


Game of Life and Devils

by General_Zargon



Category: Bleach, Highschool DxD
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gamer, F/M, Ichigo gets Gamer powers, No 1000 yr. Blood War, Post-Winter War (Bleach)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-01-05 16:30:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 56,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12193554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/General_Zargon/pseuds/General_Zargon
Summary: When Ichigo started to see names and levels floating over people's heads the day he moved to Kuoh, the only thing he could say was that it honestly wasn't the strangest thing that had ever happened to him. Rated for language and violence.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story that I have up on ff.net, that I have decided to also post here and in the process combine some chapters to increase length, improve the flow, add content, etc while I struggle to figure out if it would be worth replacing the stuff on ff with the polished work here. So....yeah, that's what happening here. This is mostly going to get worked on when I want to take a break from my other work, so don't expect regular updates, okay? :)
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I own neither Bleach, Highschool DxD, or the Gamer manga, I'm just playing around with the settings and characters.

_'Alright, think about it this way, this is hardly the weirdest thing that's happened to me,'_ Kurosaki Ichigo thought with a resigned sigh, resolutely keeping his gaze straight ahead and resisting the temptation to look at the glowing strings of letters hovering above the heads of the people he passed.

He had no clue why he was suddenly seeing names and numbers above people's heads, the sudden change from normal to RPG jarring and pretty damned distracting, especially since he had no idea what could have caused it. He had spent at least ten minutes in the train station restroom staring into the mirror at the brightly glowing blue words above his own head, feeling rather annoyed by the level.

[Kurosaki Ichigo, Level 20]

Seriously, after everything he had been through, he was only level twenty? Sure he'd lost his Soul Reaper powers after he'd killed Aizen, but still. Apparently losing his powers was like being reset and forgetting to save after leveling up from level fifteen to forty only to forget to save before logging out at the same time. What a rip off. He supposed he should just be grateful that he wasn't as low as most of the people he passed were. The highest level he'd seen so far was a fifteen, and that was from a guy dressed in a _gi_ , a traditional karate outfit.

Ichigo sighed again, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket and checking the address written on it once again. He had already gotten lost once trying to find the apartment block that would be his home for the near future, and he was determined to make that one time the _only_ time, glowing words and numbers be damned. The city that housed his new school was surprisingly easy to get lost in, and the one time he had tried to ask someone for directions the guy had run away.

Oh, and his _Intimidation_ skill had gained a level, according to the blue window that had popped up in front of him.

Because that was apparently a thing, him being the only one who could see the names and levels, not to mention the screen that randomly popped up in front of him! The first it had appeared he had jumped nearly three feet in the air and choked back a curse that would have had Yuzu washing his out with soap.

He had taken the train that morning to get to the city expecting someone to scream the first time the glowing screen appeared in front of him, but instead people had just walked by like it wasn't there. This was both relieving and confusing, and as he'd discovered when one lady had moved in front of him, it didn't appear to be solid unless he pressed something on it. That was something to be thankful for, and he would take what he could get.

Sure it was weird and would have made him doubt his sanity had he been anyone else, but considering that he had seen ghosts and spirits since he was a kid, this really wasn't that different in that he was the only one that seemed to see anything out of the ordinary. Until just recently he had been a Soul Reaper aka a Death God for almost two years and defeated a megalomaniac bent on remaking the world in his own image, so this newest thing really wasn't that strange. Annoying yes, but not dangerous as far as he could see, so he was content to just do his best to ignore it.

...Yeah, so that wasn't working too well, but he wasn't ready to stop trying until he absolutely had to.

Ichigo paused at an intersection and waited for the light to change, crossing the street with the rest of the crowd after a few minutes. He was pretty sure that his apartment block was near a park, and he could see what looked like the entrance to one just a couple of streets down. He would check the park name and maybe take a break from all the walking he'd been doing ( _Endurance_ be damned), then try and get his bearings once again. He was pretty sure that if he was lost much longer his sense of direction would turn out to be as bad as Kenpachi's, and he definitely did not want that to happen.

* * *

He collapsed onto the first park bench he came across with a quiet sigh of relief, stretching out his aching legs and groaning when his muscles flexed and protested the exertion he'd put them through that day.

Ichigo let his arms rest across the top of the bench, crossing his feet at the ankle and letting his head fall back, staring meditatively up at the clear blue sky above. It didn't look any different than the sky above Karakura Town, but then why would it? He thought, exhaling softly and just letting his mind drift. It hadn't been easy, finally making the decision to leave Karakura Town and go to school somewhere else, and for all that it must have seemed sudden to his dad and sisters, he had thought it over seriously before reaching his conclusion.

He could say all he wanted about this new school being better, that graduating from there would help him get into a good college, but the reality was that he just hadn't been able to stand the pitying looks Orihime, Chad, and Uryuu sent his way when his back had been turned. When they suddenly rushed away with paper-thin excuses, thinking he wouldn't notice what they were doing or the way they began distancing themselves from him, putting on fake smiles and trying to pretend everything was fine...it hurt, knowing they were going after Hollows and that he wasn't able to do anything to help them, seeing them come to class looking tired or favoring an injured limb.

But what really felt like a sword piercing his heart (and he knew from experience what that felt like) was when they turned down his offers to hang out as friends, always keeping conversations 'normal'.

Just because he'd lost his powers didn't mean they couldn't be friends, right? He hadn't thought so, but apparently his former friends had. The Soul Reapers he knew could easily climb into gigai, false bodies used during assignment, and come visit, they didn't have to cut him off entirely, but they had. As soon as he'd saved them, Soul Society had abandoned him, and wasn't that just rubbing salt in the wound? They didn't just separate him from some of his friends, they were gradually pulling all of them away and building a wall between them, a wall that he couldn't break through and they pretended didn't exist. That was what hurt the most of all, he thought, and made his decision to leave and start a new life in a different town that much easier.

He'd spent almost a week mulling over his options before finalizing his choice in time for summer break, thus giving him time to find a place to live in the new city and get used to the place before school started.

For all that he would miss his sisters and vice versa, they had supported his choice when he'd broken the news to them over dinner (and his dad's wailing to that stupid poster). They had made him promise to send them regular messages and call at least once every couple of days, but that was something he would have done on his own anyway. He would even faintly miss Goat Face, but he'd be damned before he'd ever admit that outside the confines of his own head.

He hadn't even bothered telling his former friends that he'd left, instead leaving it up to Karin and Yuzu to tell them if any of them happened to notice his absence. Tatsuki probably would, since she at least tried to keep him included, even if for some reason she kept using code words and oblique references for their 'spiritually inclined' friends. Probably her way of getting around Goat Face and Urahara, he figured, and deeply appreciated the effort. A clean break was best, however, and he hadn't wanted to get Tatsuki in trouble, so he'd packed up his stuff without a word. He'd talked to Kon (he'd pretended not to notice the stuffed lion's sniffles when he'd said goodbye, or the way his own eyes had felt a little misty), and told his family that he'd let them know when he'd found an apartment so they could send his stuff along.

So now here he was, starting over in a new city and completely lost on his first day there, lounging on a park bench with a backpack full of necessities at his feet as he took a break.

Thankfully the whole names-and-levels thing had only started after he'd left Karakura, he thought with an amused snort, closing his eyes momentarily before opening them again. Taking one last look at the sky along with a cleansing breath, he straightened from his lounging position, reaching into his jacket pocket to pull out the directions to his new apartment (he made a mental note to look into getting a part-time job, since he only had enough saved up for a couple of months' rent at the moment). Better see if taking a break had helped clear his head and take another look at them.

When he looked at the address written on the - now rather wrinkled - paper he saw that no, the rest hadn't really helped except making him feel a bit better.

Ichigo groaned, resigned to simply trying to ask people for directions until he found someone who would hopefully answer him before running away. Maybe it was possible to turn off that intimidation skill that he apparently had? If it kept up, it could make things annoying very quickly...Shrugging and folding the paper again, he stood up and stretched his arms over his head, gradually bringing them back down to his sides after hearing some bones pop back into place. He bent down to pick up his bag, slinging it over a shoulder and setting off towards the park entrance he'd come through.

* * *

It took him almost an entire hour before he found someone to give him directions, and he strongly suspected he only got those directions because he'd exerted a monumental amount of willpower and turned his customary scowl into a sort-of smile. Once he'd done that, he was quickly informed by the kind soul he asked, an old lady about to enter a grocery store, that he had been going in circles. She had then told him the correct way to go, and he had thanked the old lady politely but profusely and set off, resolutely ignoring the blue screen that popped up.

[Passive Skill: _Charm_ has been created!]

...He didn't want to know, he really didn't.

Carefully following the new directions, it didn't take him long to get a glimpse of a street sign that matched one that he'd written down, and he knew he was on the right track. Now that he was going the right way, it took an embarrassingly short amount of time before he arrived at his apartment block, a plain building that looked like a carbon-copy of several others that he'd seen around town, simple but clean.

Checking in with the manager and getting his key barely took five minutes, and then he was standing in the barren living room of his new place. It was clean and pretty spacious, and he knew he'd gotten a good deal when a careful inspection revealed no immediately visible problems. He gave it a five out of five, since it wasn't like he was going to have someone living in his closet again...on second thought, maybe he shouldn't jinx himself. If he quickly rapped his knuckles on his bedroom's wooden door frame just in case, that was no one's business but his, and anyway there was no one around to judge him.

He had a cell-phone, courtesy of his dad, so he sent a quick text to Karin to let her know his new address so they could send his stuff. That done, he was officially on his own with no clue about what to do next.

The apartment itself was pretty generic, having a grand total of three rooms: living room, kitchen, his bedroom and an attached bathroom. There was no decoration, and the walls were all painted in a neutral cream color. The floors were covered in tatami mats in the living room and his bedroom, while the kitchen and bathroom came equipped with tiles (also, his own bedroom had a futon too, so that was another plus).

Everything looked okay, he decided after a thorough walkthrough, and he relaxed now that he knew that he wouldn't have to blow any money on tools to fix a leaky faucet or something like that. Thirty minutes later found him finishing up putting away the few toiletries and other necessities he had brought along with him. Leaving the bathroom and making his way back to the living room where he tossed his backpack (it really only had a few changes of clothes in it now, so no worries about him breaking anything in it) into one of the corners, he paused for a moment and thought.

Okay, he was as settled in as he could be until he got some furniture and/or his things arrived...now what did he do?

Answer: go exploring and hope he didn't get lost again.

Putting his shoes back on was the work of a few seconds, and he still had his jacket on with his wallet and new apartment key safe in one of the interior pockets. Then he was out the door, making sure to lock it behind him, because for all that there wasn't really anything worth stealing in there, there wasn't any use in tempting fate. After repeated Hollow attacks, uncovering various Soul Society plots, and miscellaneous misadventures, he'd figured that out the hard way.

Now, his first priority, find out where the nearest grocery store was. His stomach was starting to growl.

* * *

He was walking out of the grocery store three buildings down and across the street from his apartment the first time he accessed the game menu. He had been minding his own business, making a note about where the place was on his newly-formed mental map of the city so he wouldn't get so lost again when the world around him suddenly dimmed. Everything crawled to a stop, and a blue window appeared in front of him at the same time he discovered that he could no longer move his feet. Which, if you happened to be standing moving across the crosswalk to the other side of the street, was actually rather alarming.

Ichigo silently vowed never to admit to anyone about the minor breakdown he had had at that moment.

Once he'd calmed down and taken some deep, cleansing breaths, slowly letting them out in long sighs, it was decided that he would just go with the flow. It had worked for him through all the insanity that was his life so far, he reasoned, and there was no reason it shouldn't work now. So, he actually took the time to read what was written on the larger-than-normal blue screen. It was almost disappointingly simple, and he would never admit on pain of death that he had been half-expecting a cryptic riddle or doom-and-gloom prophecy.

Status, skills, party, items, and quest log. Those were the options he had to choose from. See? Simple.

After about a minute staring at the words, debating with himself over selecting any of them, his curiosity piqued and nagging at him like Rukia on a bad day, he decided that now probably wasn't the right time. Sure he was tempted, but time being frozen or not, he _was_ in the middle of the street, so he just shrugged and closed the menu. He would probably be able to open it again, what with there being no reason to think it was a one-time thing, and it would be something to do to kill some time before turning in for the night.

The world regained color and started moving again, leaving him free to finish his crossing and continue exploring the area around his apartment. Come to think of it, he should probably find out where the school was and plot to quickest route between it and his apartment. Anything that might give him extra time to sleep in or have breakfast was a good thing, he nodded to himself, and set off to begin looking around. He made sure to make note of anything he could use as a landmark in case he need to retrace his steps if he somehow got off course.

He planned to look at the game menu more closely when he returned to his new home for the night, but unfortunately the best laid plans often went awry, and it was just as Ichigo was wandering through the streets around his soon-to-be school that his started unraveling.

It hadn't been any trouble finding the school, considering the size of the campus and the architecture, and he was in the midst of wondering if he should climb one of the tall trees around the property for a better view of the connecting streets when a shiver went down his spine. It actually felt somewhat familiar, and he had to dig through his memories before he managed to place it: it felt like the first time he had ever felt a Hollow's presence, a mixture of darkness and heaviness with a splash of rage.

That got him wondering though, what could possibly be dangerous in a deserted backstreet near a closed for the summer school? Was he somehow sensing a Hollow and just couldn't see it? Because that would be horrendously bad. For him and anyone who happened to be around.

Looking around suspiciously, sharp eyes narrowed as he surveyed what parts of the campus he could see from his position near the school gate, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching him. Suddenly everything seemed a lot darker, and not in the way it had when he'd accessed the game menu. No, this felt...menacing, like someone was watching you from the shadows and wondering how easy it would be to make you vanish. He literally felt like a pair of eyes were trying to burn a hole through his back even though he was the only one standing on that whole street, and a kind of dark pressure seemed to settle over his shoulders.

Compared to what he'd felt from even the weakest of the Hollows he'd fought, the pressure barely even felt like a tickle, especially not when he remembered what Kenpachi and even _Renji_ had felt like, and the feeling of malevolent eyes on his back was just annoying. It wasn't worth it to try and investigate, because for all that it was uncomfortable, he didn't feel any killing intent from the energy. It was more like a warning, and with a shrug of his shoulders he turned and started walking back to his apartment, thinking that that was enough exploring for one day.

...He was pretty sure that that weird energy was why the street had been deserted, come to think of it.

[Passive Skill: _Resist Compulsion_ has been created!]

Nope, he wasn't going to do it. He was just going to go back home, not open that weird game menu in the middle of street with people on it (apparently the range of the energy was restricted to the school and the street outside it) just to see what kind of skills he had. There would be plenty of time to do that after he got back to the apartment and ordered some takeout.

All the walking he'd done that day had certainly helped him work up an appetite.

However, as it turned out he didn't get a chance to look at the menu again, because as soon as he walked through the door of his apartment he was promptly attacked.

* * *

Years of dealing with his dad's sudden and unprovoked attacks served him well, and he instinctively lashed out with one leg at the lunging blur.

His kick connects, and his attacker is sent flying across the room to hit the wall with a solid thud, falling to the floor with a muffled thump.

Barely managing to get inside the apartment and shut the door (because like hell he was going to get a complaint on the first day) before the whatever-it-was is back on its' feet and attacking again, he scowled towards the darkened shape and ominously cracked his knuckles. What follows is basically him dodging around a lunging blur and kicking and punching it into the walls whenever it lunged at his head. The fight, if it could be called that, barely lasted five minutes. The thing's attack pattern was predictable enough, and Ichigo landed a sound kick to the blur's side when it came around for another pass that sent it crashing against the wall again where it finally lay still. That was when he got his first good look at his 'assailant', and what he saw had him blinking in disbelief.

Why? He had no fucking clue what the thing was.

It looked like a giant lizard at first glance, with some elements of a cat thrown in, and it was a bit bigger than one of those komodo dragons he'd seen on T.V one time. Its body type resembled some kind of shortened eastern dragon, long and sinuous, but the agile way it had moved and landed on its' feet was all cat. The scales that covered the majority of its' body alternated between black and bright orange, giving the impression of flames swirling in pure darkness, and the line of thin spines that went from the back of its head to between its shoulders and ringed around all four ankles were a dark reddish-gold color. Two large horns thrust back from its skull a grand total of six inches, both the same color as its spines, and its claws were all a dark, bloody red.

Another thing that told him that this was no regular giant lizard was the fact that Ichigo had never heard of a lizard that had six eyes, three on either side of its head instead of the usual two. He was fairly sure that something like that would be rather noteworthy.

All of the lizard-thing's eyes were a solid, burning red color, no pupils or irises visible, and they seemed to be glowing with a hellish light. Just staring at them sent shivers down his spine and caused an unpleasant prickling sensation to run across his skin. The lizard was staring at him intently as it pushed itself to its feet and it was freaking him out, not just the creature itself but the whole situation - he had no clue how the thing had managed to get into his apartment in the first place (he knew for sure that he hadn't left the windows open).

[Passive Skill: _Resist Paralysis_ has been created!]

He was startled out of staring at the lizard-thing's eyes by the glowing blue screen, and he frowned when he read the new skill he had apparently gained. Seriously, where was the blue window when he had been dodging and fighting the lizard-thing? He didn't recall getting distracted by a bunch of blue flashes, but in the middle of a fight seemed like the exact time the window would show up if skills worked the way he thought they did.

These new game mechanics that had apparently become his life were giving him a headache...

[Passive Skill: _Resist Paralysis_ has gained a level!]

And ignoring that for now, Ichigo looked back at the lizard-thing only to have to step to the side to avoid its lunging attack. That was the start of round two of Ichigo vs. the lizard-thing, and it was during the second half the fight that he discovered something:

It was a pain in the ass to fight when those windows kept popping up and distracting him and he should have just left well enough alone. When would he learn to stop tempting fate, he mentally groaned, it never hesitated to take him up on it.

He didn't even pay attention to what they were saying, he just tried to ignore them and focus on not getting bit and/or clawed by what now seemed to be a pretty pissed off lizard creature. He also had to try to keep the noise level down, which was hard to do considering the lizard creature was letting out a kind of hissing-growl that made another shiver run through his body as he jumped up to avoid the lizard's third attempt to maul his legs. It was like the lizard was using some kind of version of hierro, it's scales were that tough, and that hissing was really getting on his nerves! Not to mention his neighbors (he didn't know if he had any, but just to be safe) might complain and there was no way in hell he was getting evicted on the first day!

Ten minutes later, he let out a growl of his own and said, "Enough is enough already!" as he dodged another lunge and kicked out. His foot connected solidly with the lizard's shoulder, and the creature was once more sent flying to bounce off the floor and smack into the wall. This time it just laid where it fell, and while he might feel bad about using so much strength, he felt worse when he looked to see what damage to skirmish had done to his apartment. Since there was no furniture, the only casualties of the fight seemed to be some scratches on the walls along with the odd dent and a hole in his pants from when he hadn't dodged quickly enough.

Damn it, these were some of his favorite pants too.

Oh, and then there was the knocked-out lizard-thing. Couldn't forget about that.

Ichigo sighed and went to get another pair of jeans from his bag.

* * *

By the time he made it back to the living room (he let out a breath of relief that the fight had been confined to the one room) wearing a new pair of pants, the lizard-thing had disappeared.

He checked to be sure, but yup, the door was shut and the windows were still closed.

Ichigo didn't even bother trying to figure out how the creature had gotten out of the apartment; he simply went around the room and assessed the damage with a practiced eye. Considering how much damage he had inflicted on buildings on a regular basis, both before and after acquiring Soul Reaper/Hollow powers, he had a lot of experience telling if something was fixable or not.

Thankfully the walls were fixable - they just needed a bit of plaster and paint, and he resigned himself to eating frozen dinners and instant ramen until that was done. He only had so much money, and he promptly decided to make finding that part-time job a priority, screw figuring out the game menu and the weird skills he seemed to have gained.

...Okay, maybe he could spare a couple of minutes to play around with the game menu.

What? He was curious!

After using his cell to call in an order for take-out from a nearby restaurant, he spent ten of the thirty minute wait for his food wondering if he really, absolutely _had_ to fix the walls right away...they were just scratches after all, and it wasn't like there would be an apartment inspection. As long as he kept up with the rent there shouldn't be any problems, and he was willing to put off the wall repairs until he got a job. Since the lizard-thing had been focused on attacking him, the damage to the walls was minimal and mostly from the times he had knocked the creature into them.

Now that he had time to think about it, hadn't the strange animal had bright red letters over its head? Ichigo remembered that he hadn't been able to read them because the lizard creature had been moving too fast at first, then he'd been too preoccupied by first looking at it and then fighting it to pay much attention to what was above its head.

Hearing a knock on the door, he went to get his food.

Oh well, he thought as he shut the door after giving the delivery boy the payment and a tip and went to the kitchen to eat, it wasn't like he was going to see the lizard-thing again anyway, so there really wasn't a point to trying to figure it out. The red letters had been strange, but since he probably wouldn't see the lizard itself, thankfully he didn't have to worry about.

Ichigo really should have remembered that fate loved messing with him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, consider this an early Christmas present, guys. I decided to see how I could tweak the next chapter, so here you are, the fruits of my labor. ;) Hope you enjoy it!
> 
> By the way, I'm thinking of trying out some chapter titles for this story - what do you guys think?

Ichigo found out just how wrong he was about seeing the lizard creature again two days later.

He returned home from exploring the city (and looking for any stores that had help wanted signs in the windows), and the minute he walked in the door he had to dive to the side to evade the orange-and-black blur that dove at him. The door fell closed on its own, which was a small blessing he supposed, even as he started swearing as he ducked a tail swipe, kicked the reptilian best in the ankle, and swiftly retreated to a better position.

"What the hell?!" Ichigo exclaimed, sidestepping again and again to avoid the furious lizard's strikes, occasionally lashing out with a punch or kick of his own when the thing got too close. The creature seemed to favor hit-and-run attacks, which meant it was the worst kind of fighter for him to deal with, because damn it, that was his style!

Ten minutes later saw more scratches added to the walls.

"How did this thing even get in here?" Ichigo wondered, scratching his head in confusion as he looked from the closed windows to the door that he was sure had been locked when he'd gotten home. He glanced at the unconscious reptile slumped against one of the walls and sighed before going to locate a broom and a dustpan. He also made a mental note to buy cleaning supplies - if he was sweeping up he might as well have the stuff to clean the rest of the apartment too. Getting rid of the evidence and all that, as he didn't have a Soul Reaper's memory-modifying thing and thus an excuse to leave behind a mess after a fight.

As he had expected, when he came back a minute later the creature was gone. If nothing else it was a brilliant escape artist, because a quick check revealed all exits still closed.

He blinked, and then realized that he'd forgotten to check and see what the letters above the lizard's head said. Damn.

Eh, maybe that wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass...what? He could dream, couldn't he?

* * *

The next day was pretty much the same as the previous one, with the exception that he'd actually found a store willing to hire him to stock shelves part-time starting tomorrow. The manager seemed like a nice guy, friendly with a good sense of humor, so Ichigo figured they'd get along okay. The middle-aged man also didn't mention a thing about his hair, so that definitely got the guy some points in his book.

He'd wandered around town after that, occasionally drifting close enough to the school for him to feel that warningly dark aura, though he stuck around longer and longer each time, just out of morbid curiosity. His _Resist Compulsion_ skill had since gone up to level six, so hey, that was something.

Of course, the main issue was that when he got home he got attacked by the lizard-thing. Again.

Seriously, what was going on here? How did that thing even keep getting into the apartment? _Why was it fixated on attacking him_? He didn't think he'd done anything to offend any reptiles lately.

Once it was unconscious, he went to get the broom and dustpan out of the closet. On his way back, he caught sight of his reflection in one of the windows. One eyebrow raised when he saw his level was now twenty-four instead of just twenty before shrugging and going back into the living room.

The lizard had somehow disappeared again. He sort of wanted to know how it managed to do that, it seemed like a skill that could definitely come in handy...

Before he went to bed that night, he gave in to curiosity and activated the game menu. He didn't even pay attention to the party and items options, instead going straight to the Skills section. He had a surprising number of them, though most he just glanced at before looking at the ones that confused him, which there were only four of, thankfully. The rest were pretty self-explanatory.

[ _Resist Compulsion_ , passive ability, Level 6]

For lack of any better ideas, he clicked on it to try and find out more.

[ _Resist Compulsion_ gives one the ability to resist spells, powers, and barriers that try to compel one to do something, such as go a specific direction or perform a certain action.]

Huh, that could be handy, he supposed. Moving on to the next skill.

[ _Charm_ , passive ability, Level 3]

Ichigo didn't even blink before clicking on it.

[ _Charm_ makes people feel at ease and makes them more likely to trust and/or help one out. _Charm_ can be leveled up by being polite and smiling!]

...Yeah, probably not going to happen. Down to the next one.

[ _Devour_ , innate ability, Level 8]

Unfortunately when he tried to click on that one, nothing happened, so he was just left completely confused.

[ _Devil Form_ , active ability, Level 1]

Wait, what?

* * *

Ichigo's exploration into his skills honestly left him more bewildered than he had been when he had started looking at them, and he'd only paid attention to four of them! He wasn't sure he wanted to know how he'd feel if he tried to find out more details about the rest of them (although that _Alertness_ one he'd glimpsed seemed like it might be helpful).

When he got up the next day, dressed, and set out in order to find a place to do his laundry, he started paying attention to the glowing letters above peoples' heads and got a surprise. Usually they were a kind of grayish-white color, with his blue letters being the only exception, but now that he wandered around some and looked more closely he started spying people with different colored letters. Some were bright red, others were a kind of rust-gold color, and there were the rare bright gold ones.

He had no idea what that meant, but hey, his _alertness_ gained a level!

A surprisingly short hour into his walk, he found a laundromat pretty close to his apartment and promptly turned to head back and collect his clothes. They were starting to stink, and he only had three more hours before his shift at the store started. He couldn't be late on his first day, not if he wanted to earn some money to add to his savings. Unfortunately, no one had told his increasingly-regular lizard attacker that because when he opened the door, instinctively punching out with his free hand, he sent the attacking creature tumbling back into the wall. Again.

He was rather impressed by how sturdy they were. And then he had to dodge when the lizard recovered and lunged.

Seriously, what was with this thing?

[ _Resist Paralysis_ has gained a level! _Resist Paralysis_ is now Level 20. Passive ability _Resist Petrification_ has been created!]

...He didn't want to know. He really didn't. At least not right now, he mentally corrected.

Then the lizard-thing managed to knick his hand with one of its' fangs in a failed bite and he gained the _Resist Poison_ skill. Neat.

He was getting better at rendering the lizard-creature unconscious, so it only took him fifteen minutes to knock it out, run and collect his laundry, and then leave the apartment at a brisk jog.

Ichigo really didn't want to be late for his first day of work, and he thankfully wasn't.

* * *

The orange-haired teen's first day on the job actually went smoothly - he spent the entire time following around a senior employee, learning the ropes and helping lift things to the appropriate shelves. The store sold a lot of things, from appliances to clothes to bulk bags of rice, which he figured might be to ensure that the place always had something that someone might need to buy. It was an eclectic collection, but somehow it worked.

It was easy, sometimes boring, and completely normal. He appreciated that fact accordingly.

His first day of work was a success, and his boss promised to figure something out so he could continue to work even when school started. Apparently the man saw him lifting four of the giant bags of rice at once and had been impressed.

Yes, it was a good day indeed.

* * *

He was on his way home, cutting through one of the parks that dotted the city, when he abruptly froze in mid-step, his _Sense Danger_ skill going crazy in the form of no less than ten pop-ups in front of him.

Then he had to jump back to avoid getting skewered by a glowing blue spear and things just went from bad to worse.

He really should have figured out that his day had been going too well.

* * *

It only took him a few seconds to locate his attacker, who turned out to be a man wearing a dark trench-coat, gloves, and fedora (really, who wore that in the middle of summer?) standing in the shadow of one of the trees. Dark hair peeked out from beneath the guy's hat, and the guy had on what looked like a white cravat. Poor fashion choices aside, the man actually seemed normal until Ichigo glanced above the man's head and saw that his letters were a rust-gold color.

[Dohnaseek, Level 25]

Oh, and the guy's shadow had wings.

Ichigo stared.

Even he knew that that wasn't normal. And then he noticed how the park around them was suspiciously deserted, and more than metaphorical alarm bells began ringing in his head as twenty more pop-ups appeared to tell him that his _Sense Danger_ skill was both leveling up and working overtime. He should probably be running, he thought, but before he could follow thought with action he had to spin to the side to avoid another light spear.

"Heh, you're pretty good kid! Shame to kill you, but orders are orders!" Dohnaseek laughed as he manifested another light spear and hurled it at Ichigo.

This one managed to graze his arm, and he was mostly wondering who had ordered fedora-guy (he didn't care that he knew the guy's name - fedora-guy was good enough for the jerk) to kill him when he hadn't even been in town a week!

A different window popped up in front of him, saying something about a resist skill, but by that time he was too busy dodging fedora-guy's veritable deluge of glowing spears to pay attention. He was pretty sure that they were made of some sort of energy considering how they disappeared after they hit the ground. It reminded him a lot of Sode no Shirayuki's ice attacks, how they just kind of dissolved after the battle was over.

What followed was pretty much a deadly game of tag combined with hide-and-seek as Ichigo took cover behind various trees, statues, and miscellaneous objects in an effort to avoid being skewered. He mostly succeeded, though his right arm and leg were throbbing where he'd been grazed.

He was also pissed off, because if he'd still had his powers he would have been able to kick fedora-guy's ass three ways to Sunday. He was just a normal human now, or as normal as a guy who saw the world as some kind of rpg game could be, so he was limited to just dodging and trying to escape, which wasn't working so well for him so far. He really, _really_ wanted to punch that guy in the face, if only for the satisfaction it would give him.

It was as he was standing with his back pressed against a tree that a pop-up managed to get his attention. It was bigger than normal and the same kind of rusty-gold color as the letters over fedora-guy's head, and if his eyebrows went any higher they would leave his face as he read it.

[Active skill: _Fallen Angel Form_ has been created!]

 Around the time a spear pierced _through_ the tree he was hiding behind and nearly impaled his shoulder, he figured what the hell, he'd give it a try. Wasn't like he had anything to lose, considering how bad his current efforts to get away from fedora-guy were going.

(He had no idea that a regular human would have been dead in the first few minutes against a Fallen Angel and that Dohnaseek was actually taking him seriously then.)

Ichigo took a deep breath, then pushed away from the tree and ran towards an open area just as another light spear pierced through the trunk right where his heart would have been a second earlier.

He turned around to face his opponent, touching the still-there pop-up to activate his newest skill. There was a bright flash of blue light that momentarily filled his vision, and when it faded he saw the sheer shock on Dohnaseek's face as he felt a rush of power flow through him and a new weight appear on his back. It reminded him of the way he'd felt the first time he used Getsuga Tenshou - a surge of energy and the knowledge that with this he could win.

The fight was over rather quickly after that, ending with fedora-guy slumped unconscious against one of the few intact trees left.

He deactivated the skill, the weight on his back disappearing as there was another quick flash of blue light, and he had to wonder what it actually did considering all he'd done to win the fight was punch fedora-guy in the face...

[ _Fallen Angel Form_ has gained a level!]

Before he left Ichigo stole the guy's hat just to be an asshole.

* * *

The rest of the trip home passed without incident, and Ichigo was glad for that. He'd had just about all the excitement he could stand for one day.

Of course, just as he thought that he entered his apartment and got attacked by the lizard creature that seemed to have a personal vendetta against him. He just couldn't seem to catch a freaking break.

The lizard was rendered unconscious in short order and Ichigo was calmly eating some instant ramen (he knew that trip to the grocery store yesterday was a good idea). He didn't even bother watching the lizard to see how it disappeared, for all that he was curious about how it did it, he just wanted to finish eating and get some sleep to recover from the day. Sure it was still pretty early, the sun not yet fully set, but screw it, he was tired.

For lack of anything better he put the stolen hat on the counter. He was too worn out to bother thinking of where else he could put it.

When he climbed into his futon fifteen minutes later he was out like a light. The lizard, as usual, had already vanished to wherever mysterious giant reptiles went when they weren't attacking random people.

(And no, that wasn't a Godzilla reference...and if it was, he didn't mean to make it, really.)

* * *

Ichigo woke up just before dawn the next day, and he enjoyed the sunrise after he'd yawned and taken care of his morning hygiene, brushing his teeth in a daze. It took him three minutes after he stopped moving the brush to realize he was staring into the mirror with toothpaste foam around his mouth. Now that he didn't have to deal with Goat-Face's wake-up calls, apparently he was making up for lost time by not being a morning person.

Then he walked into the living room and got pounced on by what he'd begun referring to in his head as his scaly nemesis.

"Oh come on! I haven't even left the apartment and come back in yet!" Ichigo complained, using both hands to hold the lizard's open jaws away from his throat.

The lizard didn't seem to care.

A few drops of its' drool hit the floor next to Ichigo's head and a sizzling sound was heard. Yikes.

* * *

The first day off he had, Ichigo went out to the most deserted place he could find, namely the middle of a forest, and played around with his new powers.

Until recently, he acknowledged, he had been putting it off, not doing much except seeing what skills he had. He hadn't tried to level up any of them or see how they could be used aside from the obvious, not paying much attention to the glowing letters and levels aside from his own (which had gone up to twenty-eight, incidentally, and he blamed it entirely on the lizard that kept attacking him). The thing with fedora-guy had convinced him that that was mistake, and if he was going to have to deal with people who weren't his dad or a giant lizard attacking him out of nowhere he was damn well going to practice with what power he _did_ have. He kind of wished he'd spent a bit more times playing video games now though, as it would have been nice to have a starting point.

First thing he did after getting to his selected training spot? Take a second, more thorough look at his skills list. He made a mental list of the ones that had to do with fighting and made training and leveling them up a top priority. Some of the resist skills looked like they were pretty useful, and it turned out that his latest one was called _Resist Light_. Weird name, and he wasn't entirely sure what it was supposed to do. All it said when he clicked on it was 'grants resistance to the power of light', but that was a pretty minor concern in the grand scheme of things.

Now he started off his training by running through several basic warm-up exercises to avoid straining his muscles, and then began practicing all of the karate moves that he could remember.

It was actually rather therapeutic, he reflected, just letting his body flow into the stances instinctively and lash out with punches and kicks at imaginary enemies. He made use of the surrounding trees, using branches for pull-ups and fallen trees as targets for his attacks. He also ran up tree trunks and pushed off to perform back-flips, turning the wood into platforms that he could jump off of and use to help with mid-air kicks, working up a fine sweat as he exercised.

([ _Close Combat_ has gained a level!]

[Endurance has gained a point!]

[Strength has gained a point!])

Well, that was cool.

After leveling up a few skills, not stopping until each one that popped up had gained at least two levels, he decided to give activating the skill he'd used to defeat fedora-guy a try. Once the weight on his back appeared, he started doing his warm-ups and other work-outs again and wow, his active skill had gained another level already. His hits also packed an even stronger punch, as he learned when he accidentally got too close to a tree while spinning into a back-hand. The tree came off the worse for that confrontation.

It was pretty much play-time after that.

Turned out with his _Fallen Angel_ skill he could create the same sort of glowing spears as fedora-guy, except his were a brighter, richer blue. Said skill was rather obviously named _Light Spear_ , probably because it glowed. It was still pretty sweet. He had no idea how to use a spear, but he'd fought and seen Madarame Ikkaku fight enough to have a rough idea.

He honestly had no clue what the weight on his back was, but when he was playing around with his energy-spear skill he found out he could fly.

Ichigo wasn't ashamed to admit that his vision blurred slightly when he discovered that, hovering almost twenty feet off the ground and just enjoying the feeling of standing in the open air. One thing he'd loved doing as a Soul Reaper was flying, feeling the wind against his face and feeling of knowing that he could move wherever he wanted. It was through sheer luck that he happened to glance to the side and find out what the weight was: wings.

He had wings in his new form. Two large, black-feathered wings reminiscent of a crow's.

Now that he concentrated, he could feel the pull and flex of unfamiliar muscles connected to his back, and that was a pretty strange sensation, even by his standards. He was honestly amazed that he hadn't noticed it the first time he'd changed, but he figured that considering the situation he'd been in at the time it was understandable. It was still a weird feeling though, and it would likely take some getting used to.

After a few minutes staring at his wings, Ichigo shrugged and went back to playing around, now mostly working on improving his aim with his energy spears and trying to hit specific targets while flying around. He may or may not had done some mid-air acrobatics in the process, but even if he had there was no around to see it. His _Light Spear_ skill increased in level at an almost horrifying fast rate after that. It was level twelve, or at least he thought it was, by the time he stopped playing around with it.

Ichigo really hoped that no one from Karakura ever found out that he'd used his light spears to create a smiley face design on the ground or he'd never hear the end of it.

Drifting slowly downwards to land, dismissing the glowing spears around him and slowly breathing in and out to relax his muscles, the orange-haired teen was feeling pretty damn good about things. His new powers were pretty great so far, and he was definitely having fun being able to fly again. He was no longer powerless, even if it was a power he wasn't used to.

He blinked when the rush of power suddenly left him, the weight of his wings disappearing from his back and leaving him confused as he looked down at his hands. He marveled at the difference he felt between the power of his fallen angel form and his usual strength. It kind of reminded him of the surge he'd felt whenever he'd left his body to fight as a Soul Reaper...

A minute later, he shrugged and decided to try out his so-far ignored Devil form.

Turned out he could fly in both forms.

Sweet.

Also, the bat wings were kind of cool, and so was the dark forked tail even if it took a bit of getting used to. The first time he saw it flicking out of the corner of his eye, he looked like a dog chasing its tail as he tried to see what it was, which was both hilarious and embarrassing.

When he looked down at his hands he noticed he had some rather wicked-looking talons. He stared at them for a minute, then shrugged and went back to flying. He couldn't do anything about them, so he was going to concentrate on mastering his new wings if it killed him. Which it very well might, he thought wryly as he narrowly avoided slamming face-first into a tree. He leveled up several times as he flew through the forest, mostly his _Alertness_ skill when he avoided crashing into various foliage, but hey, he'd take what he could get.

His enhanced senses really threw him off - it hadn't taken him long to figure out that his hearing and eyesight had been greatly improved, especially when he managed to both see and hear a squirrel in a tree almost a football fields' length away. It had been eating a nut. His greater senses had thrown off his balance, but after some instances of almost running into trees he managed to adjust, and it was actually pretty cool.

Ichigo returned to the spot where he'd practiced his spear-throwing and landed just in time to stumble as the rush from his Devil form faded and he was suddenly sans wings, tail, and claws.

He immediately said, "Game menu, skills." and the world darkened as the bigger than usual blue window appeared. He scrolled down the page until he got to the skills he was looking for, amber eyes intent as he read.

([ _Fallen Angel Form_ , active skill, Level 3]

[ _Devil Form_ , active skill, Level 3])

Well, that was pretty good, considering he figured that he'd only been able to hold either form for around six minutes after he activated them. Of course seeing as how he didn't have a watch that wasn't an exact time limit, but next time he transformed he was going to have a clock ready to time himself. He didn't want to have the form disappear while he was in mid-air, as that would definitely be a bad thing.

He also made a mental note to look in a mirror sometime after transforming, just out of curiosity.

Oh look, his _Devour_ skill had gone up too. And he still didn't know what that one did. An experimental poke revealed that it still stubbornly refused to tell him anything.

Looking closer at the skill list, he noticed that there was something like a tab up at the top of the list that read 'Spells'. Okay, what the hell?

Ichigo tried clicking on it, but nothing happened and after a minute he shrugged. It was probably nothing important, he decided before closing the game menu and starting back towards the city. He was starting to get hungry, and he chuckled because it just figured that training his new powers would work up an appetite.

He was in the mood for sushi, he decided.

* * *

When he got home, as per routine, the giant lizard ambushed him. And stole his leftover sushi.

Ichigo cursed.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day! Here, a gift to all my lovely readers here on AO3! <3

The rest of the week leading up to the start of school passed in a strange sort of routine: he got up, took a shower, got dressed, fought off a murderous reptile, had breakfast, went to his part-time job, then headed to the clearing he'd found for some training.

He was learning the differences between his forms and how each one moved just in case he was attacked again, which at the moment he regarded as more of an inevitability than a possibility. It was bound to happen at some point, and he aimed to be prepared for when it did. Towards that goal, he focused on getting himself back into fighting shape and learning how to move through the air when he had to worry about two new limbs getting hit by attacks. If the trees were sentient, he would swear that they got a sadistic pleasure out of being his obstacle course, and not only because they got to smack him in the face with their branches. If he injured his wings in either form, his shoulders hurt when he changed back. He figured that out the hard way.

(It'd been hell fighting the lizard while unable to lift his fists higher than his shoulders.)

On the day that school started, however, the routine changed.

When he walked into the living room the morning of his first day of school expecting the lizard-thing to attack him, he was understandably thrown off-balance when that didn't happen. There was no lunging, no tail-slaps, no attempts to bite him. Instead, it was standing in the middle of the room like that was a perfectly normal thing for one of its species to be doing...Was it just him or had that lizard gotten bigger?

Six red eyes blinked at him, and the lizard tilted its head as if wondering why he seemed so surprised. It has also definitely increased in size, as Ichigo saw it was now the size of a small horse instead of just a bit bigger than a Komodo dragon.

His eyebrow twitched, because what the hell?

At least he finally got a chance to see what the red letters above its head said, he accepted grudgingly, flicking his gaze up cautiously while still being braced for a sudden attack.

[Hell Basilisk, Level 30]

And it was just one level below his own, which he supposed made sense since it must have leveled up at the same time he did, considering their fights weren't exactly one-sided...yeah, he didn't know if that was a good thing or not. On one hand it wasn't attacking him yet ( _why_ wasn't it attacking?), so it was good, but on the other he was just waiting for it to spring its' trap. It was the size of a horse too, so knocking it out would be even tougher and how the heck did it keep getting into his apartment?! It couldn't even fit through the door now!

While Ichigo had a mental freak-out over how the creature managed to break the laws of physics, the Hell Basilisk shuffled closer and leaned its head over to sniff at the teen. It made a soft, hissing growl that managed to be more purr-like than growl-like and Ichigo jolted when the surroundings dimmed and froze - including the Basilisk - and a loud, obnoxious voice started bellowing in his head.

"You have established a bond with _Hell Basilisk_ ," it yelled, "Your _Hell Basilisk_ bond is now level one!"

His eyebrow started twitching again, and he was grateful when a pop-up appeared, even if it was one that he hadn't seen before.

[Hell Basilisk has joined your party as an active-combat type! You can now request to fight alongside Hell Basilisk for an indefinite length of time.]

What the fuck?

Ichigo looked at the amazingly docile basilisk (that was probably its species, he decided) and felt more out of his depth than he had when he'd first become a Soul Reaper and had to hunt Hollows. He was in the middle of an ocean of confusion and there wasn't a damn life-boat in sight. He thought longingly of the days when Rukia, after much mocking, would actually explain things, enduring the minor pang of nostalgia with a heart-felt sigh. Oh, what he wouldn't give for a user's manual right about now.

For lack of anything better, he named his new pet/party member Akagyoushi*, and he was mildly amused to see the name above the lizard-creature's head shift into the name he'd just given it. Apparently The Voice also received the update, because it belted out the lizard's new name as it informed him that his Akagyoushi bond had gained a level.

He hoped that there was some way to turn down or mute that damned Voice.

* * *

Several hours later, as he stood in line to receive his class schedule, he came to the depressing realization that there was no volume control for the Voice.

At least the lizard had stayed at the apartment.

* * *

One of the things Ichigo had immediately noticed about Kuoh Academy (that was its name! He knew it started with a K!) was that the old school building there was practically coated in that whole 'go away, nothing to see here' warning vibe that had previously enveloped the entire school. His Resist Compulsion went up a level just by wandering a bit too close to the structure. Additionally, The Occult Research Club members had bright red letters above their heads. He was starting to realize that this meant something, though he wasn't sure what.

He was fairly certain that they weren't giant lizards in disguise (he hoped).

Considering that the President of the club, Rias Gremory, clocked out at a whopping level thirty-seven and the rest of the members that he'd seen were all in the twenty-thirty range, he was also fairly certain that none of them were human. This was confirmed when he got lost looking for a place to eat and discovered Toujou Koneko, a small girl who looked like she twelve instead of the teenager she was, with her back to him and lifting a metal bench over her head with one hand.

He turned around and walked away.

* * *

Aside from the minor instances where Ichigo caught glimpses of the students with red letters above their heads and abnormally high levels the day actually passed by without incident. He didn't dare let out a sigh of relief until the final bell of the day rang and he walked out the school gates. After everything he'd been through, he knew better than to tempt fate until after he'd left school. There was less property damage that way.

He pointedly ignored the threatening aura surrounding the old school building. He had enough on his plate already with figuring out his new powers; he  _was not_ getting involved with whatever that was.

So, he instead decided to do the sane, normal thing and go back home to get into a wrestling match with a horse-sized lizard creature.

What? It helped him level up.

One of these days he was going to have to figure out how Akagyoushi kept getting into his apartment (and fix those scratches on the walls) though...

* * *

Considering the new size difference, his customary fight with Akagyoushi actually went pretty well. He only got bitten once, and his _Resist Poison_ skill went up a level and took care of that quickly enough. There were also several new scratches, more like gouges, in the walls, but he was getting better at ignoring those. He just hoped no one dropped by to visit before he could get to a hardware store.

For lack of anything better, he gave Akagyoushi some instant ramen before the lizard disappeared. His bond with the basilisk went up when he did, so that was cool.

Now he kind of felt guilty for knocking the basilisk out so many times before, but only a little bit, since the damn lizard was going to cost him a fortune to fix those scratches in the walls.

And come to think of it, he should probably look into setting aside some money from each paycheck so he could save up to buy some furniture for the place since he was going to be staying there a while. Sitting on the kitchen counter to eat would only get him by for so long, he figured. Yuzu would be disappointed in him for not having a proper table or cooking utensils, which was all the motivation he needed to make sure that that was at the very top of his to-do list.

It was while he was in the bathroom changing into his work uniform for a late shift that something occurred to him, and he eyed the mirror speculatively...nah, he didn't have time.

He'd see what he looked in Devil and Fallen Angel form some other day, for now he had to get to work.

* * *

It was when he was stocking the shelves in the back of the store that someone slammed into him from behind, knocking him forward enough that all the things he'd just put up came crashing down around him. There went his track record of work days where nothing bad happened, Ichigo thought with a scowl, but to be honest he was actually glad that this was just a mundane bad instead of _really_ bad.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" A female voice spoke from behind him, and he turned his head enough to catch a glimpse of green hair and green eyes before he turned his attention to the mess around them.

"It's fine, nothing seems to be broken," Ichigo spoke, putting on a customer-friendly smile as he knelt down to start picking things up.

[ _Charm_ has gained a level!]

How? He hadn't even done anything!

The green-haired woman knelt down next to him, giving him a much better look at her appearance; the person who had bumped into him was a tall, well-endowed woman with green hair and green eyes, as he'd noted before, with prominent eyelashes and thunderbolt-shaped eyebrows. Somehow, he got the impression that, like him, her hair was actually natural, which was definitely interesting. Her attire of a cropped, v-neck t-shirt and short shorts exposed her midriff and a good deal of her cleavage, showing off her figure to terrific effect.

He took all that in a single glance before noticing something behind her - it was simple white hat with a black bill, but what held his attention was what was stitched onto the hat. A Quincy cross, just like Uryu carried with him. He was shocked, and not just because he had never expected to see that particular design again. He had thought that Uryu and his dad were the last Quincies left, but if this woman was wearing their symbol...he didn't know what it meant, but he had a sneaking suspicion that at some point he would wind up finding out.

Just then he saw that she had started to pick things up as well, and he looked back at her face and smiled as he said, shoving his confusion to the back of his mind, "Thanks, picking all this up will go much faster with two," and it did. Ichigo set the stuff on the shelves as the objects were picked up, stocking as he and the woman cleaned, and within ten minutes everything was back on the shelves in their proper place. He was really glad that that shelf hadn't had anything breakable on it, because that would have been a giant pain.

Glancing back at the green-haired woman, he noticed her face seemed a bit red, but other than hoping inwardly that she wasn't sick he made no mention of it and instead thanked her again for the help.

She laughed, waving one hand back and forth in front of her, the other hand holding her hat, as she said cheerfully, "No problem, it's the least I could do seeing as how I bumped into you and made the mess in the first place!" She had the grace to look both ashamed and apologetic so Ichigo could only nod and forgive her. Abruptly, she stuck out her hand between them and beamed, "The name's Candice Catnipp - er, I guess it would be Catnipp Candice, wouldn't it?" She introduced herself, stumbling a bit about which name was supposed to come first.

He shook her hand, because really, what else was he supposed to do? He also introduced himself even if he _was_ wearing a nametag. It was only polite after all.

When they parted ways a minute later and Ichigo returned to stocking the shelves, he couldn't help wondering at the odd zing he'd felt the moment their fingers had touched...After a moment he shrugged it off and went to get the next box that needed unpacking. It was probably nothing anyway.

* * *

Unfortunately for him, the final nail in the coffin of his good-day streak came when he was walking home and he happened to pass by a large alley.

He only had a moment's warning as his Sense Danger skill went off, but before he could do more than tense up, there was a large blur of movement, he felt something grab hold of one of his arms with a grip like iron and the next thing he knew his back was colliding with the dead-end at the back of the alley. He blinked, trying to clear his vision, shaking his head slightly as he stumbled, unsteady after his sudden change in location. He looked up when he heard hoarse, grating laughter coming from the mouth of the alley.

Then he saw what had grabbed him and really, really wished he hadn't looked up. The thing was repulsive, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It looked like a cross between a toad and an antelope and oh dear kami those two things should never have been combined. Its head and body were toad-like, as were its back legs to an extent though they ended in hooves. Two antelope horns jutted from its head, and its front legs were an inverse of its back ones, being shaped like an antelope's but ending in toad-like hands. And the whole thing was covered in a thin film of slime, which made its green and yellow toad skin glisten in a way that made him want to throw up. Its mouth opened, revealing yellowed, jagged teeth like a shark's, and a kind of bleating croak emerged from its throat. Yeah, he had to kill this thing before it made him lose his lunch, Ichigo decided.

As far as he was concerned, getting rid of the thing would be doing the world a favor.

He had to dive over to the side, pressing himself up against the alley wall in order to dodge the lashing tongue that suddenly emerged from the monster's mouth. Apparently its tongue took after the toad side of it then, and he made a mental note to avoid it. Sadly, this turned out to be easier said than done.

The slimy appendage was surprisingly agile, making mid-air twists and turns that spoke of the high level of control that the toad-antelope had over each muscle in its tongue. Saliva splattered the walls, the ground, and Ichigo when the tongue was cracked like a whip, and he had honestly never felt anything more disgusting in his entire life. He shuddered in disgust, wiping his hands over his face and shaking them to get rid of as much of the goo as he could. He snarled a curse he'd heard from the Eleventh Division under his breath that would have had Yuzu washing his mouth out with soap before activating his Fallen Angel skill. That thing was so freaking dead it wasn't even funny.

Ichigo ran forward the minute the weight of his wings appeared on his back, dodging the toad-antelope's tongue as it attempted to spear him, and ignored its croaking squeals as he punched it from the side. It barely moved, but he'd felt its slimy skin give under his fist and he knew his attack had done some damage. Some, but not enough, and he wasn't in the mood to play around with the monster. Its skin probably absorbed and dissipated a lot of the force, so physical attacks wouldn't be of much use. Time for something he'd been playing around with during his practice sessions.

He conjured an energy spear and swiped at the creature, taking immense satisfaction in cutting off part of its disgusting tongue. Those squeals were starting to give him a headache and he went on the attack to try and end the battle faster. That was about when he found out that those frog-legs weren't just for show when the creature jumped up and over him, reversing their positions. In the time it took him to spin around, the thing lashed out with its tongue again and it was all Ichigo could do to avoid letting it get a hold of him.

Dragging out the battle was the last thing he wanted since he could only hold his Fallen Angel form for so long, and he could practically hear the clock ticking as he dodged the toad-antelope's attacks. He was forced to close his eyes to avoid getting some of that horrible slime in them, but that meant he didn't see the creature's tongue striking until what felt like a line of fire cut into his side. Instinctively moving away and opening his eyes, he was relieved to see that the injury wasn't that bad, more of a graze than an actual strike, but it burned like lava (and he would know).

A closer look revealed tiny thorn-like barbs on the monster's tongue, currently stained with his blood, and why the hell did that tiny slice hurt so much? It was barely bigger than a papercut! Hissing between his clenched teeth, he fended off another tongue-strike with his energy spear, then narrowed his eyes as he took careful aim. The spear sliced through the air with a high-pitched shriek and hit its mark, skewering the monster straight through its torso in mid-jump and pinning it to the wall behind it. Unknown to him, his spear had also stabbed into the fuse box behind his target.

The monster began to scream and sparks flew; Ichigo's eyes were wide as electricity crackled around the creature, causing its limbs to thrash spastically. It didn't stop there, and right before his astonished eyes the thing _exploded_ , blood, guts, and gore flying everywhere, splattering across the walls and floor of the alley.

Even Ichigo wasn't spared from the steaming mess of the monster's entrails despite standing at the mouth of the alley. His eyes slammed shut just in time, but the rest of his front wasn't so lucky. He was now painted head to toe in blood, and he could swear he'd felt something slimy slide down his back. He was so horrified by the sensation that he couldn't even move, let alone gag like he wanted to. The expression on his face was one of ultimate disgust.

Note to self, Ichigo thought blankly, the light spear was an electric attack. Don't stand too close when using it.

It was about that time that his transformation ran out, and he had to run back to his apartment so he could change before the oddly blackish-red blood dried. He didn't pay attention to the screens in front of him telling him several skills had leveled up, because at this point all he wanted was a shower and some fresh clothes.

* * *

The minute he got back to his apartment, he shrugged out of his bloody clothes and jumped in the shower, carefully washing out his wound in the process and trying to figure out why in the blazes it was burning so much. Nearest he could figure out, the toad-antelope must have had something in its saliva to help it incapacitate prey. This theory was supported by the fact that he got three pop-ups in quick succession telling him that his Resist Poison had leveled up.

That was all well and good, but at the moment all he wanted to do was be clean and pass out on his futon. He thought briefly about taking his blood-stained clothes to the laundry to see what he could do to rescue them, but soon gave up on that idea. Even a cursory glance revealed that his clothes were beyond salvaging, and he resolved never to be so close to his target the next time he used his electric spear on something. The resulting stains were not worth the trouble.

His last thought before he vanished into the depths of sleep was to experiment some more with his energy spear. If it really was an electrical attack, he could have some fun thinking up different combinations...

* * *

Thankfully, the next week passed without anything unusual happening, which Ichigo thanked his lucky stars for.

He spent a lot of time experimenting with his Fallen form's energy spear, and eventually concluded that no, it wasn't an electric attack. He also started trying to turn his spear into a different shape - he was more used to fighting with a sword anyway, so he wanted to see if that was something he could do. So far the only thing he could change was the size of the weapon, but he thought he was making progress. His last attempt had turned out more like a staff than a spear, so that was a definite step forward. Now that he had the size right, all that was left was turning it into the right shape and he would have a blade again.

He was getting pretty good at ignoring the glowing red letters above some of the students, and he went in the opposite direction whenever he saw a member of the Student Council or Occult Research Club, feeling wiser for doing so.

Why they were the only students with red letters over their heads, he still had no clue. To be honest he hadn't really been trying that hard to figure it out either, having been mostly focused on his grades and training, along with work.

Although, he supposed he couldn't exactly count it as a completely normal week, he mentally corrected himself as he glanced to the side at the extremely bizarre sight of a _girl_ walking with _Issei Hyoudou_ , arguably the biggest pervert in the school. He appreciated the strangeness of the sight accordingly. Ichigo turned to head back home to feed Akagyoushi and have his daily wrestling match with the overgrown lizard, wondering at the heavy feeling in his gut.

The orange-haired teen spared a moment to hope that the feeling of dread was because of the yakisoba he'd eaten last night, he'd thought it had tasted a little off. He doubted he would get that lucky, so he could only hope that whatever was going to happen wouldn't be too bad.

* * *

The next day, Issei Hyoudou had red letters above his head.

Ichigo sighed.

He knew he wasn't lucky enough for that feeling yesterday to have been from bad yakisoba...

* * *

He was minding his own business looking for a place to eat lunch when the sound of running footsteps reached his ears and something slammed into him from the side. He was able to stay on his feet, but the person who ran into him wasn't so lucky. Blinking curiously, Ichigo looked down at Issei, then up to see the newly-red letters of the boy's name - along with a rather pathetic level of four. He actually felt kind of sorry for the guy, at least until the shorter teen shot back up to his feet and grabbed hold of the front of his uniform jacket.

Ichigo was three seconds away from punching the kid in the face when Issei demanded. "Kurosaki-san! You remember my girlfriend Yuuma, don't you?!"

There was a desperate expression on his face, and Ichigo frowned more deeply as he searched through his memory, tossing out just as the perverted boy started to look devastated, "You mean that girl you were with yesterday?" He definitely remembered the bizarre sight of a girl actually tolerating the pervert's presence, but he was kind enough not to add that.

A look of such profound relief crossed Issei's face that Ichigo honestly felt a little uncomfortable as he quickly removed the other student's hands from his uniform, shifting his gaze elsewhere as he took a step back.

"You do remember! I knew I wasn't imagining things!" Issei exclaimed, and Ichigo had to wonder how many people he'd asked his previous question to if _this_ was his response to the former Substitute Soul Reaper's rather lackluster reply.

He was guessing quite a lot, because there was no way that Ichigo would be the first person he ran to ask about his apparently vanished girlfriend. He was just guessing she was gone, considering Issei was asking if he _remembered_ her rather than if he'd _seen_ her. It was actually a lot like what had happened to his own classmates that time that Byakuya and Renji had shown up to take Rukia back to the Soul Society for that farce of a trial before Aizen's betrayal had been revealed...and now he was sure that the pervert's former girlfriend wasn't human. What color had her letters been again?

While Ichigo was trying to remember if he'd ever gotten a look at the mystery girl's - her name was Yuuma judging by what Issei said, though he had no clue if that was her real name or not - letters, the shorter teen had backed up and slid down the closest wall until he was sitting against it. Hands gripping his hair, Issei was the very picture of dejection and Ichigo could practically see the aura of depression around the pervert.

Okay, he officially felt the tiniest bit sorry for the other teen, pervert or not.

Sighing under his breath, Ichigo reluctantly spoke up, "Hey, maybe you should talk to that Gremory Rias person, or maybe Sitri Sona. They seem like they'd be able to give you some answers." After all, they were both in charge of groups full of people with red letters. That was probably significant.

"Sitri? You mean Shitori Sona, the head of the Student Council?" Issei looked startled, then thoughtful before he nodded and stood up, "Vice-President Tsubaki said that the next time I came near the Council that she'd kick me so hard I'd turn into a girl. I might be able to talk to Rias-onee-sama though! Thank you, Kurosaki-sempai! Just knowing someone else remembers Yuuma really helps. I'll head over to the Occult Research Club after school like you said!"

And with that, the pervert took off running. Ichigo just stood there blinking and feeling like he'd just missed something important.

...Dang it, lunch was about over and he still needed to find a place to sit down to eat. He'd think about this new development while he ate.

* * *

By the time school ended that day, Ichigo was pretty certain that Gremory Rias and Sitri Sona along with the various other red-lettered students were the same type of being. Those two were the highest level, so they were the leaders of their respective club/council. It was a pretty easy stretch to make.

Sure he still had no clue what they actually _were_ , but he was making progress! Also, now that he was thinking about it, the feeling he got near Sitri Sona (and to a lesser extent Gremory, but only because he had only seen her three times) reminded him a lot of the atmosphere that time he'd gone to Hell to save Yuzu, except a lot fainter, almost nonexistent...The whole situation was shaping up to be just one big headache, he thought with a silent groan.

Why was he even bothering to try and figure it out again? Oh yeah, because somehow a bunch of students' memories got erased and that hit a little too close to home. Why could Issei remember though? He had been directly involved with Yuuma and should have had his memories wiped first. That was standard procedure for this kind of thing, as far as he knew from that time with Rukia.

Something about this wasn't adding up, and that set off all kinds of warning bells in his head.

His sharp amber eyes narrowed in thought as he shrugged so his backpack rested more comfortably over his shoulder and started walking towards his apartment.

It was a tricky puzzle to piece together, but he knew several things for certain, the first of which was that Sitri Sona, Gremory Rias, and their respective groups had red letters above their heads just like Akagyoushi did (he really hoped they weren't giant lizards in disguise, he really did). The second thing was that that Yuuma girl Issei the pervert had been seeing wasn't human - he'd finally remembered what color her letters had been, and they had been the same exact shade as fedora-guy's. His conclusion? Yuuma had done whatever she had set out to do and decided to cover her tracks much like a Soul Reaper would, by erasing all memory of her having been there, but for some reason had overlooked Hyoudou.

Granted some pieces were missing from his deduction, but his conclusion made sense. Now he just had to figure what Yuuma, or whatever her name was, actually was and what she had wanted with the pervert.

(Ichigo just knew that whatever it was, it couldn't mean anything good for the poor pervert.)

* * *

The day after that was the weekend and he didn't have work that day, so Ichigo held off on heading to his training spot in the forest and instead took a walk around town.

He was searching for more places that had that ominous 'Stay Away' feeling like the old school building at Kuoh Academy, because in his experience supernatural beings didn't usually want to mingle with humans if they had something to hide. He figured if that Yuuma chick was still in town she would be behind one of those barriers designed to keep people away or make a certain spot unnoticeable.

Of course he had no reason to think she had stuck around after messing with the students' memories, but it was better to be safe than sorry, he figured.

Four hours of wandering around later and he struck gold in an abandoned church on a tall hill overlooking the city.

He really had to stare for a few minutes because seriously, the dark, spooky atmosphere and ramshackle building? Could they _be_ any more cliché? On second thought, he really didn't want to know the answer to that.

Ichigo smoothly ignored the dark feeling in the air that seemingly urged him to look away from the church and leave, smirking slightly when the pop-ups dutifully informed him that his Resist Compulsion skill had activated and also gained a level. Awesome. He took his time scoping out the church, walking slowly around the perimeter of the barrier and getting a feel for it, paying no attention to the way it tried to compel him to leave. There didn't seem to be any security measures aside from the barrier in place, but appearances could be deceiving (Nel was a prime example of this).

There was no way to tell if that Yuuma girl was actually hiding out in the church or if it was another creature entirely, he reflected as he did a thorough search for traps along the road leading to the building. Still, it was the only lead he had...oh look, his Resist Compulsion skill went up again.

When he'd looked around as much as he could short of actually entering the church, he turned to start walking back to town. He had wasted some valuable time doing reconnaissance on the place, but seeing as there wasn't really anything he could do at the moment, it was time for him to head to his training spot for some practice. He was still a little shaky on handling the enhanced senses of his Devil form, so that was something he should definitely work on fixing before the shit hit the fan.

Ichigo felt the exact moment he stepped beyond the range of the barrier and kept walking, making a note to come back another time and gather more information. That place didn't sit right with him, and he needed to know if the beings hiding out there were going to be a problem.

So much for staying out of these types of things, he thought with a resigned sigh. Even if it was just gathering information about a potential supernatural threat, it still galled him that he'd wound up getting involved in something like this again even after he'd vowed to stay out of it.

He picked up his pace a bit as he headed for his training ground. He felt the need to do some damage.

* * *

Ten minutes after he reached his training area and shifted into his Devil form, slicing at wayward branches with his claws and darting through the trees, a pop-up appeared that he'd never seen before.

[Congratulations! Your _Devil Form_ is now level 5! Which skill do you wish to learn?]

Underneath that were the words _Telekinesis_ and _Telepathy_.

Ichigo stared.

What the hell?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you think this is an April Fool's thing, then the joke's on you! ;P

It probably said something about him that after a few minutes of gaping at the strange pop-up he'd clicked on the _Telekinesis_ option without hesitation, Ichigo reflected. And then he started levitating small sticks three feet off the ground. Though considering the skill was only level one, small sticks were really the only things he _could_ move with it.

According to what it said about it on his skill list, the higher the level Telekinesis was the heavier the objects he could lift with it. Hence level one meant he could only levitate things one pound or less.

He had only been allowed to pick one, so he'd chosen the power that seemed to have the most practical applications, and okay, maybe he thought it would be cool to move things with his mind. No one was around to judge him, so damn right he was going to have fun making the sticks move around in circles and loop-de-loops, chuckling when he formed a crude stick-picture of Rukia's beloved Chappy the Bunny in mid-air.

His new power was awesome, he decided as a pop-up appeared to inform him that his brand new skill was now level three, and seconds later his transformation ended. The sticks he'd been playing with fell to the ground. He blinked the aftermath of the blue light from his vision, taking a moment to readjust to not having wings and a tail anymore, before he shrugged and started stretching. He'd held that one form for longer this time, so that was definitely an improvement.

Which reminded him that he'd forgotten the watch. Damn it.

Scowling, he reluctantly brushed it off since there was nothing he could do about it at the moment, sighing as he rolled his shoulders and flexed his fingers. A thought occurred to him, and barely a second later he was jumping up and shifting into his Fallen Angel form, hovering in the air as he looked at the ground beneath him, one hand cupping his chin in contemplation. The thought that had inspired him was this: if he could create energy spears, who was to say that he couldn't control how much energy went into them? Controlling his power had never been his strong point, but perhaps with his new gamer abilities he could change that. If nothing else it might cut down on the chances of his targets exploding...which was really all the motivation he needed to experiment with that particular power.

Conjuring a glowing spear, he looked at it and frowned, attempting to sense how much energy was in it. He wasn't very successful, since apparently his ability to sense _reiatsu_ or other energy wasn't miraculously improved by his new powers. Just another thing he had to work on, he grumbled, throwing the spear in his hand towards a fallen log, blowing an impressive hole in it but otherwise leaving the wood intact. It wasn't even scorched, which put a dent in his theory about the Light Spear being an electric-type attack. Or was there more to it? Humming in thought, Ichigo concluded that the Light Spear skill had possibilities, and he promptly began trying to figure out a way to decrease the power in his attack.

If it was anything like his Getsuga Tensho had been, he figured he might be able to wing his way through it.

Ichigo had fun experimenting, it was tricky learning to sense the flow of power in his spear, yet he kept at it, and right before the time on his Fallen Angel form ran out he managed to charge his energy spear with enough power to blow the much-battered form of his log target into smithereens. He was rather proud of himself as he landed on the ground and felt his wings vanish and the rush of power ebb.

The orange-haired teen looked at the destruction caused by his training with a small amount of satisfaction - he hadn't managed to weaken his energy spear, but hey at least he managed something with it! He was feeling pretty damn good about his progress when another pop-up appeared, this one making his eyebrow twitch.

[Congratulations! Your _Fallen Angel Form_ is now level 5! You can now choose your primary Sin!]

What the fuck?!

Moving his eyes over the screen, he paused when he saw a question mark next to the word sin, and he tapped it curiously. The text on the screen changed, and the information revealed was definitely useful.

[A Fallen Angel's Sin is the reason why they fell and affects the powers and abilities you can gain. The Sin you select as your primary will help determine the bulk of your abilities as a Fallen Angel. Example: a Fallen Angel that has the primary Sin of Wrath will be granted an increase to attack powers and battle related skills.]

Beneath that was a basic rundown of the sins he could choose from, and he scowled as he debated with himself. He didn't think he'd get a chance to change his choice once he made it, so he had to choose carefully. Granted, it said 'primary', so there was a possibility that he might be able to select another Sin later on, but that didn't mean he should plan on that happening. He could be wrong, so he had to take the opportunity to choose wisely now.

In the end he decided to go with the example the text had used, as increased attack could definitely be useful if he wound up in more fights. Of course, knowing himself as well as he did along with first-hand experience, that if was more like a when, and with a quick tap of the back button and another click of his choice his Fallen Angel form now had the Sin of Wrath.

He paused, his brow furrowing before he tried activating his Fallen Angel form again, not sure if he had to wait to change again or not, but when the now-familiar flash of blue filled his vision he was reassured. He flexed his hands and wings, not feeling any different than he normally did in that form, and man was that a relief. He ran through a few katas to be sure, but nope, he didn't feel particularly wrathful. For a minute he'd thought that his Wrath sin would affect how he felt or acted in that form, but he was really, really glad that that didn't seem to be the case.

Sighing in profound relief, he deactivated the skill and started stretching again. That was probably enough training for one day if he wanted to get back home before it was completely dark out. Lowering his arms from where they had been raised above his head and feeling the kind of exhaustion that only came from a good long work-out, he set off back towards the city.

* * *

As usual, the minute he entered his apartment he was ambushed by Akagyoushi, who was apparently rather put-out with him for not being home to feed the lizard in a timely manner.

Ichigo just focused on not getting bitten and trying to minimize the damage done to the walls.

He was not successful. At either one of his goals.

He knocked out the basilisk just on principle. His Akagyoushi bond went up.

* * *

When he woke up the next day after a good night's sleep, it was to the sight of Akagyoushi's head hovering three inches away from his face and six glowing red eyes staring into his own. Definitely not the best way to start the day.

Ichigo will forever deny that the sound that emerged from his throat was a squeak.

Ten minutes later, once he got his heart rate under control, Ichigo pushed himself up from where he'd instinctively lodged himself in a corner of his bedroom. "What the hell was that for, you damn lizard?" He demanded, wiping some sweat off his brow with the back of one hand.

Akagyoushi blinked innocently, which didn't really look that innocent considering he (Ichigo was assuming the basilisk was male until proven otherwise) was a giant reptile the size of a Clydesdale horse. Ichigo sent him a thoroughly unimpressed look before shuffling into the bathroom to take care of his morning business. He washing his hands when something occurred to him, and he shot a look at the reptilian head peering at him through the doorway, asking Akagyoushi wryly, "I take it you aren't here for a fight?"

He wished he could say he was surprised when the basilisk shook his head.

When his pet/party member started making low hissing noises and motioning through head gestures for Ichigo to follow him, the former Substitute Soul Reaper mentally waved a goodbye to whatever normality he'd managed to obtain. Not that he'd had a lot of it, but still! He was proud of the little bit of it he had! It was the principle of the thing!

For lack of anything else he had to do, since he was off that day and didn't have any plans aside from scoping out that church a little later, he followed the basilisk. He had to wonder where Akagyoushi was planning on going, seeing as the basilisk was too big to fit through the door of his apartment...Come to think of it, how did Akagyoushi keeping getting  _in_ the apartment if he couldn't fit through the door?

His question was answered when Akagyoushi somehow managed to squeeze through the door to the guestroom and made his way over to the closet, Ichigo following a few steps behind to avoid the basilisk's tail (when did it grow spikes? He was sure those hadn't been there the first time he'd seen Akagyoushi). Akagyoushi stuck his head through the open door of the closet - wait, since when was it open? He was sure he'd closed it during his walkthrough of the apartment - and breathed out some kind of red mist.

The inside of the closet started glowing a bright red.

Ichigo was reasonably sure it wasn't supposed to do that. And why was Akagyoushi looking at him like the basilisk wanted him to step into the glowing closet?

He didn't like where this was going - that sinking feeling was back, and his Sense Danger skill sent him three pop-ups. That was pretty much confirmation that he wasn't going to like what was about to happen, he thought in resignation. He was proven right when Akagyoushi got tired of waiting for him to get moving, moved around until he was behind the orange-haired human, and then shoved Ichigo into the glowing red doorway that had formed in the guestroom closet.

Damn it. Sometimes he hated being right.

* * *

Falling through a portal to who-knows-where was definitely an experience, and not one that Ichigo cared to repeat any time soon.

There was a brief feeling of weightlessness, and then a tugging feeling on his stomach and he was hurtling forward accompanied by the sensation of falling headlong towards the ground from the top of a very, _very_ high cliff. Not to mention the bright red glow that blocked his vision. It was a lot worse than a trip through the Dangai, Gargantas need not apply. The only thing he could think of to compare it to were the times he went to Hell. Not fun, at least in his opinion. Scarcely a minute later (but it felt like longer) his feet touched the ground and he promptly fell flat on his face.

Yeah, that was graceful, Ichigo mentally grumbled. Thankfully there was grass wherever he was to cushion the impact.

Blinking the spots from his eyes, he spent perhaps an inordinate amount of time staring at the green grass beneath his body. He really, really didn't want to look up and see where that portal had taken him, but he knew he had to, so it was with a heavy sigh that he cautiously pushed himself up onto his knees. His stomach churned, and he had to swallow back the urge to vomit, breathing shallowly through his nose until the nausea faded. Taking a deep breath, he braced himself as best he could and lifted his gaze from the ground.

The first he noticed was that the sky was purple, _purple_ , and he died a little inside at the sight because that meant that he definitely wasn't in the Human World any longer. At least it was a nice shade of the color, he thought distantly, groaning as his head lowered in acceptance. There came a time when everything went so strange that all you could do was smile and accept it, and he was pretty sure this was one of those times. He wouldn't be smiling, but he knew how to go with the flow with the best of them. He kind of had to, considering the situations he tended to get into...

His eyes closed in resignation, it took him a few minutes to gather up the courage to open them again and take a better look around, resolutely ignoring the purple sky. He would deal that later. Much, much later.

A swift glance around revealed that he was standing in front of what looked like a castle. A _ruined_ castle. The building looked like it had been bombed - once proud towers lay in pieces around the courtyard beyond the demolished gate, there were holes in the walls and roof and craters in the ground. It was a miracle the place was still standing, to be honest. There had obviously been a large wall around the estate once upon a time, but not any longer. Chunks of stone were everywhere, and with all those holes in the walls it was a wonder they were able to keep supporting the roof - not that there was a lot left of it, but still.

It had clearly been the site of some kind of conflict, or maybe just the unfortunate victim of an attack, and judging by the plants growing over the rubble and state of disrepair the few intact portions of the castle were in the battle/attack had happened a long, long time ago. It was very possible that the vegetation was the only thing holding everything together.

Slowly rising to his feet, Ichigo gazed at the crawling vines and vegetation wrapping around the crumbling gates and he couldn't help lowering his head for a moment in respect. Looking at the ruins of what had once been a proud structure, now almost fully reclaimed by nature, you couldn't help feeling a bit sad. Raising his head back up, he looked around some more, but other than the ruins in front of him the only things around him were trees, trees, and more trees. He was in the middle of a forest in front of some ancient ruins.

Akagyoushi was a dead lizard walking.

Well, since he had no clue where he was or what dimension he was in, for lack of a better idea he cautiously entered the ruins he'd been dropped in front of. It would hardly be the worst idea he'd ever had, and he was banking on Akagyoushi not sending him anywhere immediately lethal. He liked to think that the lizard liked him too much to do that; besides, who else would the basilisk fight and steal food from if he wasn't around?

Crossing the courtyard was an adventure in and of itself, since the grass was up to his knees and easily concealed chunks of stone that might have once been part of a wall and/or tower, just waiting to trip passer-bys. Ichigo sadly qualified, even if it was against his will.

The orange-haired teen got to the front door, which was actually still in one piece as far as he could see, and had to lean against it for a moment to catch his breath. He had been lucky to make it through the grass without twisting his ankle or taking an embarrassing fall, and it had been even more dangerous than it usually would have been since he _wasn't wearing any freaking shoes_.

Yet another reason to be pissed at that overgrown reptile.

Scowling fiercely, he turned to face the door, raising one eyebrow in curiosity when he noticed the strange symbol engraved in the metal. He couldn't quite make out what it was, covered with rust and grass as it was, but it sure as hell wasn't Japanese. And speaking of Hell, now that he took a moment to really breathe in the air and try to get a feel for the energy of the place, he realized that it was very, very similar. Not as thick, but the feeling was definitely there. It wasn't exactly the same, of course, more like a really diluted version of the atmosphere in Hell, but that just caused him to become even more confused about where the heck he was. He was floundering and he knew it.

Groaning lowly and raising one hand to massage the bridge of his nose, Ichigo finally sighed and decided to just roll with it. It wasn't like he had anything else to do, and he had no clue which way to go to find someone to help him get back to the Human World, let alone if there was even anyone else in this particular dimension with him. He encouraged himself to think positive, after all he was at the door of an ancient, partially destroyed castle, so he would do what it only made sense to: go exploring.

He pushed open the door, having to strain to get the aged hinges to cooperate, but after some pushing and shoving he managed to get the obstruction to open enough for him to slip inside.

Sure he could have just gone in through one of the holes in the walls, but that seemed rather unnecessary when he was already at the door. He wasn't an animal.

* * *

One good thing about exploring the castle ruins, Ichigo decided a little bit later, was that he didn't have to worry about his lack of a flashlight or lantern. There were so many holes in the walls and ceiling that the light had no trouble coming in.

He also came to the conclusion that whoever had owned the place had been _seriously_ rich.

This theory was supported by the fact that the few decorations that were intact, not to mention the carvings on the walls and on the furniture, were of an obviously expensive quality and very well made, to have survived for as long as they had against the elements. The dominate theme in the decorations seemed to be lions and wealth, from what he could make out from the sporadic appearances of statues and discernible carvings. And they were really detailed, too. He could almost swear that that one lion statue had glared at him as he walked past...

Ichigo sneezed as he walked by some particularly dusty drapes, the once rich burgundy fabric a shadow of what it had once been, he'd wager.

All things considered, he was really lucky that there wasn't any broken glass on the floor, and the rocks sharp enough to damage his feet were large enough that he could see and avoid them. It was almost tragic really, how such a once-beautiful castle had been reduced to little more than rubble. Such a shame, he sighed quietly before beginning his exploration in earnest.

Going up what few stairs he found that didn't look like they were in danger of collapse, he figured out pretty soon that the second floor rooms were a lost cause...and were those _claw marks_?

He went back down to the first floor and quickly found what had once been a library and was now only a graveyard of torn books and shredded paper then quietly moved on. The dining hall he discovered had had its table reduced to splinters and the chairs to kindling, and the offices were a strange combination of the latter and former. What he assumed to have once been guest quarters were nearly completely decimated - the beds had suffered the same fate as the dining room table, as had the dressers and bedside tables.

The former Substitute Soul Reaper left no stone unturned though and even went so far as to look in the closets of the rooms that had them. Most of their contents were ripped, torn, and generally unusable, but he lucked out when he peered into the closet of the master bedroom (or he guessed that that was what it was - it was a bedroom and it was by far the grandest one he'd seen). Pushing aside the tattered remains of a cloak, there was a pair of intact, though rather old and dusty, boots tucked into the corner of the closet as though the owner had just thrown them there and promptly forgotten about them.

Ichigo thought they look kind of pretentious, what with being made of some kind of fine black leather and studded with bright bluish-green gems that for the life him he couldn't identify, and the buckles looked like pure silver, though tarnished with age. He shrugged it off; beggars couldn't be choosers. He picked up the boots, sitting down right there and then to put them on. He never noticed the gems on them glimmering more brightly than light could explain as he flexed his toes inside them.

Miraculously they fit, and he sighed in relief at finally having something to protect him from pebbles and sharp sticks waiting to poke holes in the bottoms of his feet. He'd had a few too many close calls while exploring the second floor.

Standing back up, he continued looking around the master bedroom, but aside from the boots in the closet it seemed like everything was just as wrecked as the stuff in the other rooms. Dresser and bed both reduced to splinters, drapes fluttering in the wind and looking more like moth-eaten ribbons than curtains, and what looked like a huge scorch mark right in the middle of the large rug between the bed and the dresser. He probably didn't want to know what had caused that.

Leaving the room, he wandered around until he found the kitchen, or at least what was left of it...which promptly reminded him that he hadn't had a chance to eat breakfast before Akagyoushi had abducted him. A low growl echoed through the kitchen, the source coming from the stomach of the teenager standing in the doorway. He resolutely ignored it, as there wasn't anything he could do about anyway. Any food that might have once been there was long gone, and any that wasn't he wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole.

One eyebrow twitching, Ichigo groaned as he walked over to the nearest cabinets and starting opening them, looking inside for anything that was either intact and/or useful. The first few cabinets yielded nothing, and he had to wonder about who had destroyed the place way back when, because whoever they were had been very thorough.

Fifteen minutes later and he stood up from where he'd crouched to look under the sink, stretching his back with a relieved groan before looking back at the fruits of his labor: three plates and one bowl. That was it. Granted they were rather pretty for dishware, all of them being an aged white color with still visible depictions of sharp, bold icy blue lines that formed the shape of a snarling lion's head, but really. He searched practically the entire mansion and all he had show for it was a pair of boots and some dishware. Although he supposed it wasn't all bad, considering he'd been meaning to buy some plates and such for his apartment and this would save him a couple of yen.

Gathering up his plunder into a table cloth that was filthy yet mostly intact (which was more than could be said for the drapes), he tied the ends together in a sort of makeshift sack and left the kitchen.

It was reminding him of how hungry he was, which he did not need thank you very much.

* * *

Somehow he ended up in the library again, and he set his impromptu bag down by the door before venturing further into the room. He hadn't really explored the place when he'd first found it, but since it was pretty much the last room he hadn't checked he figured now would be the best time to get to that. Though first he'd better clean up some of the mess so he could see where he was going.

What he thought might have been a half hour to an hour later, Ichigo was rewarded for his decision to pick up some of the papers (that were written in some language that he couldn't make heads or tails of) when he unearthed a surprisingly intact book from beneath the shattered remains of a desk. It was bound in some kind of leather and looked pretty simple compared to the other empty spines he'd tossed into one of the corners. There was gold lettering on the cover, and between one blink and the next a pop-up appeared above the cover of the book.

[ _Beginners' Guide to Magic_ ]

Huh, it actually translated. That was convenient, not to mention appreciated. He was about to shrug and add it to his tablecloth bag when another pop-up appeared.

[Do you wish to destroy this book and learn its contents?]

What.

He scowled; stupid changing game mechanics.

* * *

Ichigo held off on deciding what to do with the book, instead stashing it with his new dishware and returning to poking around the library. Hey, if one book survived then maybe others had too. It was worth a shot anyway, so there was no harm in looking. Then he bumped into one of the candle holders attached to the walls, felt a small static shock, and heard a muffled _clunk_ right before a section of wall opened up, revealing a set of stairs leading downwards.

A secret passageway. Of course there was a secret passageway - it was a mysterious ruined castle, why wouldn't it have one of those?

Still, it was pretty neat.

He went down the stairs because really, what else could he do? He was curious.

* * *

Ichigo's journey down the hidden staircase was an exercise in his dodging ability and his Sense Danger skill proving its worth a dozen times over.

He had to avoid retractable spears, arrows firing out of the walls, spikes in the ceiling, and in one case a tripwire that triggered all three. In the end he was practically sprinting down the stairs, staying barely one step ahead of the traps that triggered behind him. He would have been swearing up a storm if he had been able to spare the breath for it. More than a few times he had to make flying leaps towards momentary safety and felt his heart skip a beat when he just _barely_ made it, not noticing the gems on his new boots briefly shining right as he jumped.

By the time he reached the bottom of the stairs, just barely managing to jump over a wall of spikes that emerged in his path and turning an impressive front flip in the process, he was sweating and panting and feeling like he had just gone another round with Grimmjow. The teen leaned over, bracing his hands against his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Sweat dripped from his brow to land on the floor, and he groaned as he gasped out, "Please let that be all there was to the traps,"

He really shouldn't have said anything; fate loved a line like that...

* * *

Four trapped hallways later, Ichigo was seriously considering just saying screw it and heading back up to the library.

Whatever there was down there could hardly be worth the trouble he had to go through to avoid the traps! For pity's sake he had even shifted into his Devil form as a form of self-defense, that last poison dart trap would have gotten him otherwise!

On the upside his Telekinesis had gotten a work-out and gone up a few levels, so that was something, not to mention he'd discovered that as a Devil he could see perfectly even in complete darkness. That alone had probably saved his skin more than a few times during the last two hallways, since thanks to that he'd managed to avoid the five tripwires. He was still tired of the whole mess though, and his irritably lashing tail telegraphed that quite clearly.

Ichigo could practically feel the clock ticking on how long he could hold his Devil transformation, so he sincerely hoped that he was getting closer to the end of the gauntlet he'd found himself running. He turned down the fifth hallway and his expression changed from frustrated to deadpan when he saw the holes for spikes in the walls, floor, and ceiling.

Really? He thought incredulously, staring at the kill-zone he would have to run through, exactly how paranoid were the people who had built this damned place?

The answer to that was probably _a lot_ , but the former Substitute Soul Reaper couldn't care less. He just raised one hand to massage the bridge of his nose and groaned - seriously, there was no way that whatever was down here was worth the trouble he was going through to get to it. He was going to stand by that opinion no matter what it turned out to be.

However, since he'd started this trek, he was going to finish it, and to do that he had to figure out a way to get through the Hallway of Spiked Death, as he'd decided to call it.

When in doubt, go with the simple solution.

Narrowing his eyes, he activated his Telekinesis, only instead of lifting something off the ground, he envisioned a kind of bubble around himself. Hopefully the bubble would stop the spikes from touching him as he concentrated on keeping something down instead of picking something up with his skill. It worked, surprisingly enough, and he made it through to the other side with no injuries aside from some rattled nerves when the spikes that came out of the wall stopped _just short_ of impaling him. Those would settle down pretty quick, since it was hardly the first time he'd nearly died, and he wasn't even bleeding afterwards, so no worries.

[ _Telekinesis_ has gained three levels!]

[Active skill: _Repel_ has been created!]

...He didn't even want to know. He was just glad he wasn't dead.

* * *

Two hallways later and Ichigo's shoulders slumped in relief when he finally, _finally_ , got to the end of the trapped passageways.

"It's about fucking time," he breathed out, leaning over and bracing his hands on his knees as he panted softly. Man, that Repel skill had really come in handy, and he was worn out from all the traps he'd dodged. It was a good thing he'd gotten to the end when he did, because he suspected his Devil transformation was about to run out of time.

When he got his breath back and looked up, he saw he was standing in front of an iron door decorated with carved images of demons, what looked like ice, and more of those weird symbols he'd seen on the papers in the library. When he looked closer at the top of the door he could make out a series of lines that, after a few minutes of thought, he managed to place as the same design that had been on the plates he'd found in the kitchen, the snarling lion face. He had a feeling that that was important for some reason, but he couldn't seem to come up with a reason why.

Looking at the door cautiously, he decided that it was better to be safe than sorry and used his Telekinesis to turn the heavy-looking handles and open the door. The symbols on the door flared an icy blue and he had to quickly dodge to the side to avoid being hit by what looked like a bolt of ice, but hey, the door was open now!

Just in time too, as his wings and tail disappeared abruptly, almost making him stumble at the sudden shift in his center of gravity. He recovered quickly and blinked as he entered the room beyond the door, having to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness. Once his eyes adjusted enough that he wasn't seeing spots, he lowered his arms from where he'd brought them up to protect his vision...


	5. Chapter 5

The very first thing Ichigo noticed as he slowly lowered his arms and looked around was that the room was  _enormous_. He couldn't be sure, but he was reasonably sure that the room he'd entered was over six football fields wide and twice as long. It was cavernous, to be poetic about it. The second thing was that a great deal of that space was taken up by mountains of treasure, some of the piles of gold almost touching the ceiling. Truly the sheer volume of gold coins that dominated his sight was staggering, and he was duly impressed. He gaped in shock, a distant part of his mind noting that he should be thankful that the apparently magic lights embedded in the ceiling and walls of the room were still working.

It was no wonder that he'd been blinded; the light reflecting off the treasure created an aurora of color and brilliance as it shone on metal and gems, and he was still left squinting even after his eyes adjusted. Seeing something glitter on the ground next to him, he managed to tear his eyes away from the vast fortune around him enough to look down. It was a coin, a single coin. Picking it up, he saw it had a stylized skull inscribed on one side and a crown on the other.

Weird but cool, he decided, tossing the coin back onto one of the hills of gold. There was a moment of panic as he held his breath when the wall of gold shifted menacingly, threatening to topple over before settling.

Spotting a thin path through the mountains of treasures and with no other option, he cautiously began following it, hoping that he wasn't going to wind up buried under a ton of gold because wouldn't that just cap off his perfect day. He snorted at the thought, making sure not to brush against anything as he walked. As he went deeper into the treasure room, he began to notice that the mounds of gold weren't the only things there larger-than-life, not by a long shot, and he had to stop mid-stride and stare for a moment - dear gods, that ruby was the size of a soccer ball! And the diamond next to it was even bigger!

If nothing else, the orange-haired teen decided, he was taking those with him when he left.

As he walked, rubies and diamonds were far from the only gemstones he found, and most of those Ichigo didn't even know the names of. They were beautiful though, and doubtless there were even more jewels buried underneath the gold coins where he couldn't see them. As he approached the back of the vault - because really, what else could it be? He guessed that the former owners of the castle above had had some warning of whatever finished them off and decided to hide all the valuables as a last middle finger to their attackers - he started seeing things other than gold coins and gems. A gauntlet here, a pair of boots there, a mirror partially hidden behind a statue to the right...there was a myriad of objects and he looked around intently to see what else he could spot.

With just one glance he counted at least seven full sets of armor and twice that number of weapons (was that sword on _fire_? What the hell?!), and that was just on the first look!

Hold on, was that a _throne_?

Ichigo turned fully to face the out of place piece of furniture and saw that yes, it was indeed a throne. An excellently crafted one at that, the wooden parts being a rich mahogany color and the rest being done in shades of light blue and white. He wondered what the deal was with the previous owners' obsession with those colors was about, then shrugged since it wasn't like it really mattered anyway. He doubted he'd be able to figure it out, though his best guess was that it was something like Uryu's thing about white, some sort of family color thing.

(He had no idea that his assumption was completely right.)

At last reaching the end of the cleared path through the treasure, he stopped to catch his breath. If nothing else, his unplanned trip to a different dimension was great cardio.

To be honest, he spent the next ten to fifteen minutes just looking around at the wealth around him in awe, trying to accept the fact that yes, he really did just stumble onto what he imagined would be a king's ransom. No, make that five king's ransom. Seriously, who were the people who'd lived in the castle above and presumably used to own all this stuff? He was dumbfounded that anyone could possibly be so wealthy. And yet that wealth hadn't protected them from attack, and might even have contributed to why they'd been targeted, he reflected philosophically.

Carefully beginning to explore the things around him, he barely stopped his jaw from dropping when he found not only conventional treasures like gold, gems, and jewelry, but also _furniture_. There were tables, desks, chairs, side-tables and pretty much everything else you'd need to furnish a house, several houses in fact. There were even a couple of dressers and a bed! All decorated in shades of blue and white, of course. He was kind of surprised that there was only the one bed (pillows and all!) but maybe whoever put it there didn't have time to move the rest of them down?

Either way, he didn't know how, but he was definitely taking the furniture with him when he left; it would save him thousands of yen on buying new furniture for the apartment. Though he doubted it would all fit in his small home, he could at least use one of the tables, the chairs, and maybe one of the dressers.

Whatever, he was taking it all anyway. Since he didn't know the conversion rate for gold and silver to yen, worse come to worst he could see some of the furniture.

Ichigo couldn't move any of the valuables around or even dig through the mountains of gold to see what else was around, there was simply too much of it and the smallest shift risked a collapse. He hadn't brought his makeshift bag down with him either, so he had a problem: how was he going to get this stuff back up the stairs? Sure the traps were spent, but he couldn't even begin to imagine how many trips back and forth he would have to make to create even a dent in one of the smaller piles of gold.

Crossing his arms and tapping his fingers thoughtfully on his elbows, he scowled before sighing and admitting to himself that he was at a loss as to what to do. There might be a bowl or something around that he could use as a temporary container, but damned if he would be able to spot it with everything else in the way. He was about to give it up as a lost cause and just stuff his pockets with gold and grab some of the larger gems when he suddenly remembered something.

He promptly smacked himself in the forehead for forgetting something important: his inventory.

Now was as good a time as any to see what it could do since he had never used that particular function before (fedora-guy's hat was still sitting on his kitchen counter, come to think of it). He immediately said, "Game menu, items." and watched as the world around him dimmed and a blue screen showing many empty squares appeared. Even looking at how many squares there was he wasn't sure even half of the gold would fit, let alone all the other treasure - oh look, he could scroll down.

It turned out that he had three full pages of empty squares, about a hundred squares in total. Provided some of the stuff like the furniture and gems stacked, he might be able to fit everything.

Awesome.

Experimentally picking up a few nearby coins, he tossed them through the screen. When nothing appeared in one of the top squares, he frowned, wondering if something had gone wrong, but then he noticed something on the right side of the inventory screen, some kind of arrow. When he clicked on it, a side panel with various types of currency listed on it appeared. In front of the word 'gold' there was a number ten, the exact number of coins he'd tossed through the screen, so he guessed that the coins and other money he put into it didn't use up any inventory slots. Sweet.

He started chucking coins into the inventory screen, having fun watching the number of gold he had turn into a blur as it kept increasing as fast as he could toss gold through. When he'd cleared out the loose coins around him he started in on the nearest mountain.

* * *

By the time he closed his inventory screen to take a break, the muscles in his arms were sore. He slumped down into one of the chairs he'd unearthed from one of the gold piles, breathing out a sigh of relief as he absently stretched his arms to prevent cramps. He hadn't even started on the stuff that might appear in his inventory squares! If he could move one armful at a time it would take forever to get it all - there just  _had_  to be a faster way, but what could be faster than picking them up...

For the second time that day Ichigo slapped himself in the head.

As it turned out he could activate his Devil form skill while the inventory was up, which was definitely helpful.

His Telekinesis skill proved itself worth its weight in gold, pun fully intended, as he began levitating as many coins as he could at one time (which should be about seven pounds worth, considering the skill's level) through the inventory screen. The flying coins looked like golden streamers as they moved through the air, shining and sparkling under the magical lights. It was a gorgeous sight, made even better by the sight of the gold counter spinning through numbers faster than the eye could see. Yes, he thought triumphantly, this was definitely faster than picking them up one armful at a time.

The best part was that the more he used Telekinesis the more it leveled up, as the pop-ups informed him, and the more he could lift with it. The second he batted away one pop-up, another took its place, his skill was leveling up _that fast_. Soon the streamers of coins looked more like rivers as more and more of them were lifted into the air to flow through the inventory window. Taking advantage of the fact that he could move around while his inventory was up, he made himself comfortable on one of the chairs he'd found. Sitting back and folding his hands behind his head in relaxation, he put his Telekinesis skill through its paces. His tail was draped over one of the arms of the chair so he wasn't sitting on it, and he sighed happily. This, he decided, was the life.

Unfortunately the time on his Devil transformation ran out pretty quickly, and he hadn't even cleared out a quarter of the coins in the vault. His Telekinesis was a whopping level twenty-one though, which he was definitely pleased about. As a bonus, he could now see some of the things that had been buried under all the coins, although he wouldn't be able to tell what everything was until he really buckled down and went digging for a closer look.

Ichigo took a deep breath, then let it out slowly as he straightened in his chair. He stood up, peering around at everything he'd managed to uncover and his first thought was, ' _Wow, that's a lot of furniture_ ,'. He counted at least a dozen beds - including mattresses - in the small area he'd managed to clear alone. It looked like he was wrong about there only being the one bed, even if the ones he could see now were a lot smaller and were lacking in pillows and bed-covers. It looked like there were enough beds to furnish every bedroom in...the...castle...

This time he didn't slap himself, but it was a close thing.

Thinking about it a little more, assuming the people who owned the castle knew they were going to be attacked, it made sense that they had moved everything valuable from the castle to the vault to make sure their enemies had nothing to show for the victory. And apparently 'everything valuable' translated to gold, jewels, furnishings, and even the dishware. If he took that thought a step further, the previous owners might even have replaced everything with cheap knock-offs to make the attackers think they were getting something so they wouldn't look for the actual valuables. Double insurance in case they lost the battle, which they had judging by the state of the above castle.

He looked around at the treasure hoard, feeling a bit more admiration for the original occupants of the property. It was a clever plan, and the evidence that it had worked was all around him.

Bowing his head for a minute in respect, he straightened up and rolled his neck, hearing it pop before picking up a chair. Looking at it for a moment, he shrugged and shoved it through the inventory screen. A tiny picture of the chair appeared in the empty square in the top left corner of the screen. He stared before saying, "Cool." and moving on to shove ten more identical chairs through the screen, a small number eleven appearing in the corner of the chair picture, showing how many of them he had in there.

Convenient, he decided. It was good to know he was right about the stacking.

When the number on the chair picture reached thirty Ichigo stopped, having run out of chairs he could reach without wading through piles of jewels. He dreaded having to move that couch he'd seen beneath what looked like silk drapes, as it looked solid. And heavy.

Oh well, for now he would focus on the gold coins and maybe that side table over there by the silver lion statue...

Ichigo smirked, transforming into a Devil once again and setting to work.

* * *

Ichigo groaned as he collapsed back into the one chair he'd left out of his inventory, his Devil form fading away one again as he took several deep breaths.

He honestly had clue how long he'd been working on moving the gold coins into his inventory, but his Telekinesis had gone up another five levels and his Devil form had gone up two. He had certainly given both skills a workout, he thought wryly, his shoulders slumping as his muscles started relaxing. He leaned his head back against the back of the chair, not bothering to suppress the yawn that emerged and made his jaw pop.

Almost absently, he dismissed his inventory and the rest of the world regained its color. It was both fascinating and unsettling to watch, the way the light that he had barely noticed was dim now came back in full radiance, the colors of the treasure rushing back like water freed from a dam. He was going to take a slightly longer break this time to give his powers a rest, he decided, and it wasn't like he couldn't afford to. A full quarter of the coins in the vault were now officially in his inventory along with thirty chairs and seventeen side tables. Oh, and a set of drapes he'd levitated into the screen just to see if he could.

Seeing as how the area around him was clear of coins, he figured during his break he'd take a closer look at some of the stuff that had been uncovered. He was still doubtful about being able to lift that couch though, even _with_ his Telekinesis (which had proved itself to be a damn useful skill if he did say so himself, he was _really_ glad he'd chosen it).

What followed was an exercise in futility, as he soon discovered. The things closest to the cleared area he could examine to his hearts' content, but anything behind that first row? No dice. He wound up bracing himself with both hands on a silver lion statue and doing some kind of weird ballerina pose to get a better look at a mirror wedged between a large trunk  and no less than eight shields before he gave it up as a bad job. He was beyond grateful that no one was around to see him do that, because if they were he would have been obligated to kill them so that word of that pose would never get out.

As he straightened up, he never noticed the faint blue shimmer that ran over the surface of the statues before he took his hands off them.

He did find a pile of bracelets and rings on top of a dining table though, so his poking around wasn't a total loss. He shoved them all into his inventory without really looking at them past seeing that they were made of silver and almost all of them featured sapphires (with the odd ruby and emerald thrown in). They were pretty, so he was keeping them and that was all there was to it. They took up some space in his inventory and only a few of them stacked, but whatever. He thought he heard a faint ringing sound when he pushed one particular bundle through, but it was probably just his imagination...hopefully.

(He crossed his fingers, just in case.)

Deeming his break over, looking around at the dimmed vault around him, he shifted into his Devil form and got back to work. His Telekinesis skill was likely going to be in the sixties by the time he was done moving all the gold...

And it turned out his prediction was right on the money, as the pop-up telling him that his Telekinesis had gained another level appeared, bringing the total up to sixty-eight, just as the last few gold coins passed through the dark screen. He was sweating from exertion as his form changed back to his regular appearance, having to bend over and brace himself on his knees as he tried to get his breath back. He honestly didn't know how much time had passed, but his Devil transformation had timed out five more times and gained two levels before he'd managed to move all the gold. He was going to be seeing stars from all the flashes of light for  _days_.

On a good note, the vault now looked a _lot_ bigger, and as the saying went, he thought, no rest for the weary.

It was really amazing how much stuff had been buried under all those coins. He wasn't too sure he wanted to keep some of those statues though - a lot of them looked kind of tacky. Most of them were silver, but there were some stone ones and he dreaded having to move all of them.

There were shields, swords, axes, bows and arrows, spears, and a lot of weapons he couldn't even identify (was that a _flail_?). And that wasn't even taking into account all the armor, jewelry, and other accessories he found. There were also paintings - some of them he thought were really good, even if he didn't know the people in them - and vases and statuettes and a lot of other things. His head was spinning just taking in all the things he could identify at a glance!

Really, how rich were these people? He mentally complained, looking around apprehensively at all the stuff he would have to find room for. Once he got everything in his inventory he would probably have a better idea of what all there was, since he really didn't want to waste time carefully examining each and every little thing in the vault. Even if calling up the game menu had some weird time-freeze going on, he'd still been down there long enough as it was, he was thinking.

But first, another rest...

* * *

Energy restored after a short - he hoped - nap on the uncovered couch, Ichigo once again endured the flash of blue taking over his vision as he transformed. He was about to start levitating the rest of the furniture into his inventory when he was brought up short by a pop-up.

[Congratulations! Your _Devil Form_ is now level 10! Which skill do you wish to learn?]

Below that were the words _Hypnosis_ and _Telepathy_.

He shrugged after a minute and clicked one, not really thinking too deeply about. He was honestly more concerned by the fact that that bright red cloak he could see on top of a golden-framed mirror looked to be trimmed with fire. Really, actual dancing-and-burning fire. He kind of wondered how whoever made the thing managed to keep the fire from reducing the fabric of the cloak to ashes, but he kind of figured there was magic involved somewhere. There had to be, or else he was throwing his physics textbook out the window because clearly it was useless.

[Active skill: _Telepathy_ has been created!]

Huh, well that answered the question of what he'd picked...Moving on.

Ichigo returned to squinting at the flaming cloak suspiciously for almost a minute, debating on whether or not he really wanted it, before throwing his hands up in defeat. In for a penny, in for a pound and all that. Lifting it with his Telekinesis and sending it to his inventory along with the mirror and three shields that were glowing with an icy blue light was simple. As was deciding that he didn't want to know what was up with the shields, he really didn't.

Then he discovered what was apparently the book section of the treasure hoard.

"What the fuck?" Ichigo said in a perfectly deadpanned voice, his expression completely blank.

Okay, so he was gaping, sue him, because _damn_ that was a lot of books. He scratched his head, looking quizzically at the towering stacks of books and wondering if these were the ones that were actually supposed to be in the destroyed library upstairs. All of them were giving off a feeling of age and knowledge and magic, if that made any sense, and it was easy to imagine them lining the bookshelves in the castle above.

Eyebrow twitching, Ichigo sighed deeply and just started moving them into his inventory. Yeah, he probably wouldn't have a lot of room left after he got done with this section but what the heck. Some of them would probably come in handy and he enjoyed reading anyway.

He was already turning his attention away from the books when a plain scroll caught his eye as he was about to store it and he grabbed it out of the air. He didn't know why, something about it just sparked his interest. (There was that ringing again). He looked at it, expecting something to appear to give him a general idea of what was in the scroll like it had with the book upstairs, and was not disappointed when the expected pop-up appeared.

[Teaches Passive skill: _Written Language_. Do you wish to learn this skill?]

Wait what? Was this thing like a skill book or something? Was that what the book he'd left upstairs was? Give him a break, he groaned.

At a loss, he clicked _Yes_ and watched as the scroll dissolved into motes of light. He didn't feel any different, but just to be sure he waited for a minute, blinking, before he plucked another book out of the air as it floated by and experimentally opened it. There were more of those strange symbols he'd seen upstairs, but right before his eyes they changed into something he could understand. He stared.

...Okay, he could admit that that was pretty cool.

Also, the book he'd opened was apparently about the various uses for poisonous herbs. Yikes.

Hurriedly closing the book and tossing it into the inventory (he'd discovered if he moved far enough away from it the screen followed him, which was awesome), he kept levitating things through the screen and steadily filling up the empty squares. A surprising number of things stacked, which was definitely a relief. Of course all the squares on the first page and half of the ones on the second were still filled up and he wasn't even through a fourth of the vault but hey. Nothing he could do about that.

Ichigo took things methodically, clearing one section of the vault piece by piece until, by the time his transformation wore off, he had a quarter of the place cleared of treasure. His inventory was almost full though, which could definitely be a problem. Seeing as how most of the space was taken up by books, a slow smile crossed his face as a way to free up some room occurred to him. If they were anything like that book upstairs and the scroll that gave him the ability to actually read the weird symbols, then it shouldn't matter if they dissolved afterwards since he'd still get the knowledge/skill.

It worked with the scroll, so why couldn't it work with the other books?

He started pulling books out of his inventory and sure enough, pop-ups appeared in front of each one asking if he'd like to learn what was in it. He just kept on clicking _Yes_ , barely glancing at the skills he gained. Some of the books had to say a bunch of the same things though, since his newly acquired skills - or at least he thought they were skills - sometimes leveled up instead of him getting something new.

Pretty soon he used all the books that hadn't stacked and freed up a great deal of space in his inventory, so he counted that as a win.

Closing the inventory screen for a moment, he was about to exit the game menu for another rest when, on a whim, he clicked on 'skills'. What popped up though made him frown - where the Spells tab had been was now the word 'Grimoire' and he had to wonder why it had changed even as he tapped it. The screen switched and was replaced by a blank slate with words on the left side; his options being _History_ , _Spells_ , and _Bestiary_.

Huh, interesting...but he'd fiddle around with it another time. Right now he had to concentrate on clearing out the damned vault and figuring out how to fit all the treasure into his inventory, so a couple of swift taps of the back button brought him to the game menu and then the inventory.

Looking at the remaining hoard around him, he couldn't stop a groan from escaping before reluctantly trudging over to the next area to be cleared. Evidently the time he'd spent clearing the books out was enough time for his energy to recover and he shifted once more into a Devil without any problems. He had to admit, he was starting to like the tail, and the wings weren't half bad either, he decided. Maybe if he leveled up enough, he could use this form as a costume to freak people out at festivals? He sniggered at the thought, setting it aside to muse on later.

Chuckling softly as he raised his hands like a maestro conducting an orchestra, he set to work once again, using his Telekinesis even as he made like he was directing a choir. What? He had to liven things up somehow! It was getting boring just standing there and watching objects float by and disappear into a screen!

Shields and spears and axes went flying by and into the inventory, along with the odd halberd, pike, and trident. The magic lights in the ceiling caused the weapons to shine, showing there was no trace of rust on any of them and creating a rather impressive lightshow as they soared through the air. Oh look, a katana! Neat.

Into the inventory it went. Wow, that free space hadn't lasted very long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is a bit out of left field, but do you guys think my writing is good enough that you'd be willing to pay fifty cents to a dollar for a drabble, one-shot, or other such story? My brother broke his foot and I'm trying to think of something to do to help out. As my scarf-making skills aren't that great, writing it is. Not sure if my writing skills are that much better than the scarf ones, but...yeah. On second thought, maybe I should stick with the scarves...


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday to me! :D Here, have a chapter in honor of the occasion! Also, the info-dumps in italics are paraphrased from the DxD wiki. :P

Somehow, he had no idea how, he managed to get the entire contents of the vault into his inventory. When the last coin went into his inventory, the only thing he could say was, "Thank kami for stacking..." before groaning in relief and falling back onto the floor.

Trying to catch his breath, he stared up the high ceiling, gaze following the patterns in the stone as he panted and slowly but surely recovered. It was a good thing that the more his Devil form leveled up the longer he could stay in it, because otherwise it would have taken a lot longer to clear the room. Even with all the extra levels, his looting had been nothing short of an ordeal and he honestly just wanted to collapse on his bed and sleep for a week. His Devil form was now level twelve, his Telekinesis was level seventy-three (those silver lion statues had pushed him over the edge for his last level up), and he was more than ready to get the fuck back to his apartment and see how many days he'd lost.

He wondered, could he send the dresses, jewelry, and perfume he'd found to Karin and Yuzu without getting yelled at later?...Probably not, he decided. Yuzu would probably like them, but Karin would pitch a fit if she saw anything like that in a box with her name on it, she might even be mad enough to catch a train and come to kick his ass personally, he thought with a snort. Not to mention, if she opened the package when Yuzu and his idiot dad were there, they wouldn't let her throw anything away, and knowing Goat-Face there would likely be pictures taken of her reaction to the gifts. Just imagining how that scene would play out had him laughing under his breath and smiling softly at the vault ceiling.

Man, he missed them. After he got back to his apartment and got some sleep, the first thing he was going to do after he woke up was give his sisters a call. Provided they weren't in school or busy, he amended, though right before he left he remembered Karin mentioning that she was cutting back on her 'extracurricular activities' and focusing on studying and her school's soccer club. She'd probably be home and good to tell him about anything interesting happening back in Karakura. He'd have to time it just right so that Goat-Face was in the clinic and unable to come to the phone, but he was sure he could swing it. That settles that, he nodded to himself, pulling his legs up towards his chest and flipping back to his feet from his prone position. He'd always wanted to do that when there was no danger to life and limb, and it was  _awesome_. He subtly fist-pumped as he straightened up and started towards the doors after one last look around to make sure that he hadn't missed anything.

Nope, all cleaned out. He'd gotten everything except the lights, and he'd figured that that would be going a little far in his looting spree so he left them alone. Right as he stepped out of the vault, another window appeared in front of him, this one a bit larger and paler blue than usual.

[Active Skill: _Devil Form - Duke Valefor_ has been created!]

...What the fuck?

His mind legitimately went blank as he stared at the words. How did that even happen? He hadn't even been doing anything except walking! Was it a bonus for clearing the vault? Why would that even be a thing? You know what, he didn't even care right now. He was tired and his head was starting to hurt from all the questions. He'd look it up later and figure out what it did.

Ichigo was desperately hoping that he wouldn't have to deal with all those traps again. He didn't think he would have the energy to transform again for awhile, and he was pretty sure that his Devil form could use a break anyway. Was there some kind of magic maintaining and setting the traps? Was the amount of time he was in the vault enough for that kind of power to work? He wasn't sure, and so when began backtracking through the hallways, he did so cautiously, not daring to relax until he turned a corner and spotted the bottom of the stairs.

Thankfully, the traps had _not_ been magically reset, so he did not have to deal with dodging more arrows and darts on the return trip. It was all he could do not to trip on something in the dark passages as it was. The trip down had been a lot easier with the Devil night-vision, he thought grumpily as he began climbing back up to the library. As he took the steps one at a time, the question of what exactly he was supposed to do with all the stuff he'd found popped into his mind. Like the crystal glasses and other dishware. There was no way they'd all fit inside his kitchen cabinets.

Ichigo groaned as he realized he now had _more_ problems to deal with.

* * *

When he emerged back inside the castle's library, the first thing he did was dig the _Beginners' Guide to Magic_ book out of his makeshift bag and click 'yes' when the pop-up appeared. Watching as it disappeared into specks of light, Ichigo picked up the tablecloth-bag and started walking towards the door he'd entered through, seeing no reason to waste inventory space when he could easily carry the makeshift bag himself, one problem already solved. He didn't really pay much attention to the pop-up that appeared right after the book had disappeared beyond registering that he apparently now knew magic.

Cool, but not a big deal at the moment.

Still, he made a mental note to play around with the Grimoire option on his skill page later. That definitely seemed like something that could be fun, and he could admit that he was curious about that history option...

By the time Ichigo exited the castle he had a rough idea of a plan for getting back home...only for all of it to go flying out the proverbial window when he caught sight of the huge, six-eyed black and orange lizard creature standing outside the gate. The former Substitute Soul Reaper saw red.

Dropping the tablecloth/bag he was holding in favor of lunging at Akagyoushi, he howled, voice full of righteous fury, " _You stupid lizard! I'm going to turn you into a pair of boots, you sorry sack of scales!_ "

What followed was more 'knockdown-drag-out fight' than their usual friendly matches in his apartment, but Ichigo was pissed. Can you blame him for wanting some payback? It hadn't been fun falling through a portal to who-knows where and those traps on the way to the vault had been really hard to avoid! Not to mention who knows how much time he lost while he'd been looting the castle vault!

Akagyoushi was K.O-ed within six minutes, sprawled out on the ground - and were those swirls in his eyes? Nah, couldn't be - while the orange-haired teen was dusting his hands off smugly. He had some skills level up in addition to the level that he himself had gained, which was always nice but nowhere near good enough compensation for being sent on this sudden treasure-hunt. He made a mental note to look in the mirror sometime and see what level he was at since it had been some time since he'd last checked. Speaking of levels...he looked at the downed Akagyoushi and raised an eyebrow when he saw 'level 48' glowing in red after the basilisk's name.

Huh. He could have sworn that Akagyoushi's level had been in the thirties the last time he'd seen him, and was it just him or did he look bigger? He definitely hadn't been that large when he shoved Ichigo through that portal in the closet. He also didn't remember the lizard having that many spikes...What was going on with that reptile? Seriously. There was no way it was normal for that monster lizard to grow that fast. Then again, monster lizard, so maybe it was? Ow. His brain hurt.

Five minutes later, his eyebrow twitched when the basilisk rolled over and stood up, calm as you please with his tail swaying. He was _so_  done with this damned lizard. "No sushi for you for at least two weeks, and that's only if you can get me back to my apartment." He informed Akagyoushi bluntly.

The basilisk went wide-eyed (which with six eyes looked really weird). A large red circle appeared around them as Akagyoushi breathed out more of that red mist Ichigo remembered from his first impromptu trip through a portal. Then there was a tugging sensation behind his navel and he only had time for one curse before the sensation of riding a roller coaster returned and it was all he could do not to throw up.

Definitely not giving Akagyoushi any sushi for a freaking _month_ , puppy-dog eyes be damned!

* * *

Ichigo stumbled when the spinning sensation from the portal ended, promptly falling flat on his face and getting a mouthful of carpet in the process. He was back in his guestroom!

He had precisely two minutes to feel overjoyed at the fact that he was back in his own world before Akagyoushi stepped on him.

Ow.

* * *

He didn't talk to the apologetic Akagyoushi for a week, even if it turned out he'd only been gone for the rest of his day off.

(His phone call with Karin went something like this:

"Hey Karin, how are you doing?"

"Fine. Kicked Goat-Face in the shin three times today, and Yuzu gave him her Disappointed Look."

"...Ouch."

"That's nothing; Tatsuki came over and 'accidentally' kicked him in the balls...and through a wall. He's still crying. I want to be her when I grow up."

"Understandable.")

When the overgrown lizard started whining after three weeks of no sushi he gave in on that at least. He swore that basilisk's devastated, please-forgive-me looks were on par with Yuzu's...

* * *

At lunch the day after he canceled Akagyoushi's sushi ban (and his bond with the lizard predictably leveled up), he was finishing off the last on his onigiri when Hyoudou Issei ran up to him.

"Kurosaki-san! There you are!" the pervert actually _beamed_ at him, and Ichigo wondered if he had somehow ended up in an alternate dimension without noticing. It would hardly be the weirdest thing that ever happened to him, although dimensional travel was generally something he noticed. "I just wanted to thank you for telling me to talk to Buchou, she explained some stuff and it really helped!" Oh, so that was why the perverted boy was talking to him. While Issei began rattling on about how talking to Gremory had helped him a lot and how he understood things a lot better now, Ichigo idly flicked his gaze to the glowing letters above the kid's head.

[Hyoudou Issei, Level 15]

...What? How'd the pervert level up so fast?

Ichigo turned his attention to what Issei was saying in time to hear, "...and I wasn't sure about the whole contract thing at first, but it turned out to be really fun even if some of the customers are kind of weird..."

"Contracts?" Ichigo cut in, raising his eyebrows questioningly when the pervert abruptly shut up and looked embarrassed.

"Eh heh, never mind, I just wanted to thank you again, Kurosaki-san!" Issei blurted out before turning and sprinting away, kicking up a cloud of dust as he did so. Ichigo stared. He'd had no clue the pervert could run that fast, although he guessed it made sense considering all the times he'd had to run away from enraged females. Most notably the Kendo Club captain and vice-captain.

Ichigo shrugged and put his empty bento into his backpack before standing up. It was about time for classes to start again.

* * *

When he got home, the first thing Ichigo did - after knocking out the attacking Akagyoushi and leveling up his bond with the lizard - was call up the menu and go to the skills section. He had put it off long enough, and now it was time to figure out what was going on with the world he was now dealing with. Clicking on Grimoire and then selecting _History_ , he took a look at his options before clicking on the first one. The screen was then filled by text. A _lot_ of text.

[ _The Three Factions -_

_Thousands of years ago, there were the Three Factions of **Angels** , **Devils** , and **Fallen Angels**.Unlike other supernatural groups, such as the Norse Gods, Hindu deities, and Greco-Roman Gods, which were more or less independent of each other, these three were all interconnected. The Three Factions spawned the Judeo-Christian religion and became part of the Bible._

_The Three Factions warred against each other under the leadership of the **Four Great Satans** , the Biblical God, and the Fallen Angel organization, the **Grigori** , led by Azazel, in a conflict which came to be known as the **Great War**. After the deaths of the Biblical God and the Four Great Satans, the Great War finally ended. The Three Factions were left in a state of conflict, however due to the fact that all three sides were exhausted and lost the bulk of their main forces, neither of the three sides wanted to continue battling. While there was no peace between the factions, outright battles did not occur either._

_After the Great War, the overall strength of the Three Factions changed drastically, with the Angels losing their God, the Devils losing their forces and their leaders, and the Fallen Angels who lost many of their forces except their leaders._

_Following the creations of the **Evil Pieces** and the **Brave Saints** Systems, Angels and Devils have incorporated reincarnated humans and other species into their races._ ]

Pardon his language, but what the hell?!

He honestly didn't know how to react to any of that, he really didn't. He'd known on some level that the Soul Society couldn't possibly be the only place souls went when they crossed over, especially foreign souls, and he'd seen the Gates of Hell. But to find out that the God from the Bible was dead...even he needed to take a minute to process that. He didn't subscribe to that mythology, but wow, he probably shouldn't go spreading that around. The text didn't say one way or another if it was common knowledge, but he imagined not. It seemed a pretty big deal, and talking about something like that just seemed like asking for trouble to him.

Although, why were some of the words in bold? He experimentally tapped the first bold word, which happened to be 'Angels', and watched as the text on the screen changed. Okay, so bold words were links to different pages. Good to know.

[ _Angels_ -

_Originating from **Heaven** , the Angels are powerful beings who serve the Biblical God and have the power to inflict pain upon Devils/demons due to their light-based powers. After the death of the God from the Bible in the Great War of the Three Factions, the Angels were incapable of increasing their numbers normally until the creation of the **Brave Saints** System which allows Angels to reincarnate humans into Angels._

_All Angels are similar to humans except with white feathered wings and a halo positioned directly above their heads, the only exception being Archangel Michael, who has golden wings. Their rank is denoted by the number of wings they have. Angels are often seen in white-colored clothing, mostly priest attire._

_Unlike Devils and Fallen Angels, Angels need to purify themselves when making love and both the Angel and partner must undergo a lengthy purification ritual that takes several hours. They must also do it inside a specially crafted barrier and they both must also not harbor any kind of possessive feelings while doing it, rather it must be done out of pure love._ ]

"Was that last bit really necessary?" Ichigo complained, his face dark red with the force of his blush as he went back to the Three Factions page and forcefully pressed the next bold word.

Most of the information of Devils was stuff he already knew from playing around with his Devil form, but he had to read over it anyway, just to be thorough. He could admit that he mostly skimmed it, but what were the chances that it actually told him anything he couldn't find out by experimenting with his powers? Knowing the history of the race and general information was all well and good, but there was nothing there that really impacted him. He definitely didn't have the urge to go around picking fights with Angels or Fallen. However, when he got to the part about Stray Devils he paused, reading through that bit more carefully.

[ _Stray Devils-_

_Stray Devils are Devils who have run away from their masters. Without their masters to keep their powers in check, they become a great threat if their powers go beyond their control. The Devils take this case very seriously, and any Devil who becomes a Stray will be killed on the spot._ ]

Was that freaky toad-antelope thing he'd killed a Stray? It certainly seemed like it, he thought with a frown. Good to know that he wouldn't be in any trouble if someone found out about that. And now on to the last of the Three Factions.

[ _Fallen Angels-_

_Angels that have fallen from Heaven due to going against the teachings of God and committing a Sin. The leaders of the Grigori were tempted by human women and fell after having sex with them._

_Despite being cast out of Heaven, Fallen Angels and their subordinates have been known to occupy churches and use them as bases. However, they go out of their way to destroy all of the religious icons in these churches in the process._

_Currently, the Fallen Angels have the smallest population among the Three Factions._

_Fallen Angels have appearances similar to Angels with their wings, however their wings are colored black and they lack the halos above their heads. Fallen Angels are often seen wearing dark-colored clothes, mainly in the colors black and violet._

_Like their Angel counterparts, the rank of a Fallen Angel depends on how many wings he or she has. The blackness of the wings of each Fallen Angel is also different. For example, Azazel, leader of the Grigori, has jet-black wings and feathers that have the color of everlasting darkness._

_Unlike Angels and Devils, Fallen Angels can replenish their numbers simply by tempting the remaining pure Angels in Heaven to join them. It is unknown if it works in the opposite direction, where Fallen Angels can redeem themselves via selfless and righteous deeds to rejoin Heaven. They can also increase their numbers through childbirth._

_Like the other races, Fallen Angels have their own system of magic, including a method to wipe the memories of large groups of people._ ]

Well then, it seemed that the Yuuma girl that the pervert had been searching for was a Fallen Angel, and what he'd read also matched up with what he'd seen from fedora-guy. Black wings, the ability to wipe memories, and taking refuge in abandoned churches, it all fit. But still, why leave the pervert with his memories? That just seemed sloppy...and did it have anything to do with the fact that Issei's letters were now red? Maybe this Yuuma thought she didn't need to wipe his memories? There were several reasons that he could think of why that might be the case, none of them good.

Maybe a Fallen Angel's power to erase memories didn't work on Devils and that was why Issei could remember? But he was sure it only after Yuuma and Issei had gone on their date that Issei's letters turned red...He was going to go out a limb and guess that the red letters belonged to Devils, at least until proven otherwise, and that the rust-gold color meant that the person it belonged to was a Fallen Angel, which definitely aligned with what he'd seen so far.

Ichigo decided to put that question aside for now. He needed to do some more investigating before he came to a conclusion.

For now he just closed the menu, deciding to take the time to absorb all the information he'd gotten before delving any deeper. Also, he mentally noted that he need to make some time to look at that _spells_ option when he had a spare moment. His curiosity was killing him about that, especially since the thought of being able to use magic was pretty cool when he thought about it. It was also be useful as kind of a hidden trump card like his Hollow mask had been. Something the enemy, whoever they were, wouldn't expect.

He went to change into some casual clothes he wouldn't mind getting torn if he got into a fight. Since he was planning on going back to that abandoned church, a fight definitely had a good chance of happening. It was a good thing he didn't have a shift at the store today.

* * *

On his way to the abandoned church, Ichigo decided that discretion was the better part of valor and instead of walking right up to the door like he had last time, this time he took the scenic route. He needed to be subtle, because now that he thought about it, he really didn't know who, what, or how many he was dealing with. He wasn't as strong as he had been, so he had to fight smarter, not harder. Anyone aware of his previous exploits, if they knew what he was thinking, would probably smack themselves in the head and say ' _now he gets it_!'.

Taking careful note of the time (about time for the sun to start going down, he estimated), he began walking around the church about a foot away from where the barrier began. It didn't look like they'd added anything new to their security, which was definitely a good thing. When he stepped close enough to feel the barrier though, one eyebrow raised up in question at the surprising strength of it. It was a lot stronger than it had been the last time he was there, and his Resist Compulsion skill both activated _and_ gained a level.

Yeah, that wasn't suspicious in the least, he thought sarcastically, frowning at the seemingly abandoned building as he went around towards the back door he'd seen during his last visit. He was halfway to it when he had to leap backwards to avoid a glowing yellow spear - the same type of attack as his _Light Spear_ skill? - and he performed an impromptu handstand before flipping back to his feet.

He scowled when he heard the sound of clapping, and he looked up towards the sound in time to see the source of it descend to the ground. "Very nice, boy, not many people can dodge my attack without even seeing it coming," The woman smiled, though there was nothing pleasant in the expression.

[Kalawarner, Level 25]

Ichigo only had a minute to get a look at the woman - and it was a woman, there was no doubt about that - but what he managed to see was a tall, buxom woman with long blue hair that covered her right eye and brown eyes. She was wearing a violet, trench coat-like top with a wide collar, matching mini-skirt (emphasis on mini), and black heeled shoes. The trench coat-top was open at her chest, giving him a very good view of her breasts and cleavage. There was a faint twinkle from her throat, light reflecting off some kind of necklace, and before he could either appreciate the view  or stop blushing, he was dodging another thrown spear.

His Sense Danger skill was blaring at him, and he immediately ran for the cover of the trees, swerving to avoid thrown energy spears the entire time. He really didn't want to get hit by one of those, especially since he remembered what his own spear had done to that Stray Devil that had attacked him. Even if it turned out that it wasn't an electric attack, getting a wound from one of those would still be very, very unpleasant and thus something he wanted to avoid.

When he got to the treeline he immediately took shelter behind a large trunk, his blood beginning to pump at the possibility of a fight and a chance to test his skills.

Ichigo was the sort of person who thrived on battle, growing and learning with each fight, and that hadn't changed simply because he lost his powers and gained new ones. Solitary training could only get him so far, this was actually the perfect opportunity for him to see what some of his skills could do, not to mention see how his Fallen Angel form compared to the real deal. Getting ambushed was probably one of the best things that had happened to him in about a week, if he thought about it like that.

Sure his Fallen Angel form was only level nine, but maybe a good fight would push him over the edge to level ten. He paid no attention to the level gap - he'd won fights with worse odds stacked against him. He was pretty sure levels were more like guidelines in this case anyway.

And now, since he'd gotten Kalawarner to follow him into the forest her mobility was limited, as was her range of attack since she couldn't fly with the trees so close together. Granted he couldn't fly too, but he was used to it and he was banking on the fact that she wasn't. Creatures who could fly usually didn't fare as well when they were thrust into a situation where they couldn't.

Ichigo enjoyed leading the increasingly-angry woman on a game of cat-and-mouse, drawing her further and further into the forest and away from the church as the sun set and the moon rose. He'd sensed _something_ closing in on the building, and it must have been pretty obvious since he was able to sense it, so he decided to throw whatever-it-was a bone and decrease some of the opposition at the same time he trained.

"Damn it! Stop moving around so I can _kill you_!" Kalawarner shrieked, hurtling spear after spear towards the orange-haired teen who kept ducking behind sturdy tree trunks to evade the attacks.

"Why should I do that? You just said you were going to kill me!" Ichigo shot back, snorting in laughter as he dropped down to avoid a wildly thrown spear that nevertheless almost managed to score a hit.

Unfortunately Ichigo's luck ran out, so the speak, as the chase wound up ending in a medium-sized clearing...that Ichigo wound up standing in the middle of after back-flipping to dodge three consecutively hurled spears.

Fuck, he mentally groaned as Kalawarner began laughing, spreading her dark wings out as she gloated, "Hah! Your time is up, _human_! Now you will feel the full wrath of Kalawarner of the Grigori!" Another glowing yellow spear, this one brighter than the other ones he'd seen her make, appeared in her right hand. As the Fallen Angel prepared to launch her attack and Ichigo prepared to dodge, the moon came out from behind the clouds that had been obscuring it and a ray of moonlight illuminated the clearing.

The silvery glow dancing across his bright orange hair, Ichigo was prepared to dodge and shift into one of his other forms when he noticed Kalawarner seemed to be frozen. She was staring at him with wide-eyes, her mouth open in a soundless gape, her arm still poised to throw her spear, but she wasn't moving. If he couldn't see her breathing he would have almost thought she'd been paralyzed or petrified. He was pretty sure he hadn't used his Charm ability, but then again it _was_ a passive skill. Was it something about the moonlight?

Kalawarner moved after several uncomfortable minutes in which Ichigo wondered if he should take the opportunity to attack, but even then she only lowered her arm and whispered, "Orange hair...it couldn't be, Dohnaseek said the one who beat him was a Fallen like us...but how many people with orange hair can there be?"

Dohnaseek? Where had he heard that name before? It took a few minutes before he remembered the name that had been above fedora-guy's head. Come to think of it, he still had to do something about that hat on his kitchen counter...

The Fallen Angel woman raised her voice, her tone sharply demanding, "Show your true form! You are the one who defeated Dohnaseek, so you must be one of the Grigori as well!"

If she wanted a fair fight, then he would be happy to oblige. Ichigo shrugged, saying as the blue light enveloped him, "Well you're partially right, lady." He stretched his black-feathered wings, conjuring his own energy spear and charging it with about half the amount of power that had destroyed the log so many weeks ago. It still glowed a vibrant blue, helping to illuminate the area along with Kalawarner's own spear and throwing his body into sharp relief.

"I knew it! No mere human could hope to evade me for so long!" Kalawarner crowed triumphantly, "I must compliment you on your glamour - I would not have known you were a Fallen Angel until you chose to reveal yourself if not for Dohnaseek's grumbling about the orange-haired Grigori who defeated him in a single blow."

To Kalawarner it made perfect sense; her opponent was not a human like she had first thought when she'd seen him sneaking around their base, but a Fallen like herself who had merely refined his glamour abilities until she couldn't tell the difference. When he had shed his human disguise, her heart had skipped a beat when the flash of blue light had vanished to reveal hair that had darkened to a deep sunset hue, a strong, handsome face and eyes that seemed to glow a searing blue. His body was chiseled and sleek, the play of his muscles easily seen beneath his clothing, and the wings he spread were the color of truest darkness.

Though he was only wearing a simple green and white t-shirt under a dark gray jacket, blue jeans, and worn sneakers there was no denying that there was an aura of power and control around him. An aura that, if she was to be so bold, she would compare to that of Lord Azazel's.

She would forever deny the blush that spread across her cheeks at the sight of her adversary's true form. She had always been attracted to powerful men, curse it, and the man across from her was definitely that if nothing else. She could certainly respect the power and control needed to completely conceal your true nature and the dedication he must have put into refining his technique. But why was he acting against them? Their orders came from Lord Kokabiel himself, who had said he received them from Lord Azazel, so it couldn't be on orders that he attacked them. Or at least she didn't think so.

Forcefully yanking her thoughts back to the here and now, Kalawarner once again raised her spear and said warningly, "Fallen Angel or not, for attempting to interfere in our plans you will be eliminated!" With that declaration the fight was on, much to Ichigo's relief.

He'd been getting uncomfortable with the way Kalawarner had been staring at him, but fighting was something he could deal with.

Both combatants took to the air, black-feathered wings flapping once to gain altitude before they met in a clash of spears. Ichigo had the advantage of strength, but Kalawarner had been a Fallen Angel longer and knew her body's capabilities better, something that stacked the odds slightly in her favor. One thing that could be said was that Ichigo didn't lack for speed and strength, and his natural instincts for battle served him well as he dodged spear-thrusts and kicks. His blood was singing with the thrill of battle, and every dodge, parry, feint, and attack just made him more and more determined to win.

Unknown to him, there was an eager grin on his face as he flapped his wings once to push himself back from Kalawarner and evade the swipe of her spear. There were many more options for dodging and angles of attack while they were in the air than there would be if they were on the ground, something he'd already known from his time as a Soul Reaper. No stranger to mid-air combat, he took full advantage of those options as he spun down and to the side to dodge a spear-thrust before retaliating with a swipe of his own. When he was met with a parry he seized the opportunity to land a vicious punch to Kalawarner's stomach.

The breath knocked out of her, Kalawarner went tumbling back, flailing through the air for a moment before regaining her balance and turning right-side up, but by then it was too late. Ichigo had decided that now was as good a time as any to try out something new, and he figured if he could create an energy spear in one hand, why not another one in his free hand?

[Active Skill: _Dual Light Spears_ has been created!]

It turned out that he _could_ create two spears at once, and he took shameless advantage of that ability to drive Kalawarner back and keep her at bay. Spinning his spears rapidly and combining that maneuver with rapid thrusts and swipes, he succeeded in preventing his opponent from getting close enough to land a blow.

Kalawarner was unable to completely parry the storm of attacks and rips and tears appeared in her top even as scratches appeared on her skin, barely even noticeable aside from the small trickles of blood coming from them. She only distantly registered the slight stings, instead flapping her wings frantically to put distance between them lest she get sliced to pieces by the whirling spears. That turned out to be a mistake, and Ichigo seized his chance to practice his aim on a moving target, throwing spear after spear and creating new ones each time one left his hands.

It was like an intricate dance, her twisting and weaving away from the light spears that threatened to skewer her if she so much as missed a single step. Her heart was pounding from the rush of battle, and even as sweat dripped down her face she reveled in the sensation of battling an opponent that stood on even ground with her. However, if she wanted to rejoin Dohnaseek and Mittelt in time to confront Rias Gremory she didn't have time for a prolonged battle, and so she regretfully created another light spear and prepared to end the battle quickly.

She was taken by surprise when, after evading another barrage of spears and soaring straight towards Ichigo, her charge was halted before it had crossed even half the distance between them.

Ichigo had anticipated Kalawarner trying to close the distance between them, and he stopped that plan in its tracks by conjuring an energy spear in each hand. Throwing the spear in his left hand as a distraction, forcing her to use her own spear to deflect it, he dove to the right and circled around. He didn't have the best of luck with attacks from behind, but he factored that in as he implemented his current strategy.

When in doubt, go with something simple. Tossing spears to keep his opponent occupied, Ichigo flew in circles around Kalawarner, moving so quickly that the female Fallen was hard-pressed to keep up and avoid getting impaled by one of the thrown light spears.

As much as he enjoyed training, it was time to end the fight, so he threw three spears in rapid succession as a distraction, already moving to attack from the side as Kalawarner spun around to deflect his feint. He conjured an energy spear, making sure to lower the power in it as much as he could, as he charged in for the final blow. The spear found its mark, slicing a long cut on his opponent's collarbone. Blood flew, and Kalawarner shrieked in pain right before he followed up with a punishing blow to her new injury. She dropped like a stone towards the ground, having lost consciousness from the pain. He winced a bit, pretty sure he'd heard something snap from that last punch.

Ichigo caught her by the wrist on her uninjured side, lowering them both gently down to the ground just as his transformation wore off. He felt kind of bad for having to do that; he'd sensed that she had her own reasons for fighting as they'd clashed. Loyalty was at the core of her actions, and that was something that he could respect. She'd wanted to finish the fight with him in order to go and help two of her comrades, which he could understand. It wasn't her fault that he'd gotten the upper hand, it was just how battle worked, and he wouldn't belittle the challenge she'd given him by feeling guilty for winning or pitying her for the loss.

Leaving Kalawarner propped up against the trunk of a tree, he headed back towards the church. Whoever it was that had been heading towards the dilapidated building must have finished what they were there for by now, he figured.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, just giving you a heads up that I'm in the process of moving, and the place I'm moving to doesn't have Internet access, so updates will be...sporadic. I'll continue writing, but I likely won't post anything for awhile. So to make up for my future absence, here's a double update in celebration of the 4th of July! :)

Well, Ichigo thought as he stared at the smoking holes in the church walls and roof that he was sure hadn't been there earlier, at least he was right about the mystery person's business being concluded.

There must have been quite a fight, he decided, stepping gingerly over some rubble and into the church itself through one of the holes in the wall. The place was even more trashed than he'd thought it would be from his previous examination of the exterior. Broken stone, bits of wood, and other miscellaneous remnants of destruction littered the inside of the church, there were even some scorch marks scattered around. Although what really caught his attention was the staircase leading down. It was near the altar, and he thought the piece of stone might have concealed it at one point, judging by the drag marks on the floor at either side of the opening.

Yeah, that wasn't suspicious at all. _Really_. He was sure there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for why there would be a staircase hidden beneath the altar of a deserted church. Expression completely deadpan, Ichigo stared at the stairs for a minute before shrugging and going down them. Sure he hasn't had the best of luck with staircases lately, but he was going to try it anyway. He could grudgingly admit that the last time hadn't turned out that bad; he'd gotten some decent loot out of it and leveled up a few very useful skills at the low cost of some time and a lot of frustration. He could only hope that the staircase wasn't trapped like those damned hallways back in the other dimension were...

It turned out they weren't and he reached the bottom with no problem, breathing a sigh of relief as he did so. "And safe." He commented, glad that the stairs had been exactly that and not a descent into a death trap. Then he saw the bodies strewn about the circular room around him, the giant cross in the middle of it, and he hung his head with a groan. He'd spoken too soon, apparently.

Even at a first glance he could tell that none of the people sprawled out on the floor were alive. Not only were none of them breathing, the copious amounts of blood and the fact that half of them were missing limbs also helped him reach that conclusion. He scowled in disgust as he gingerly stepped over what he suspected had once been someone's intestine, because gross, he did _not_ want to get any of that on his shoes.

What? He couldn't wear those gem-studded boots he'd found in the ruined castle to school or to work, so keeping his shoes clean was important!

He cautiously made a circuit of the room, wondering what the hell had happened there, aside from the obvious 'nothing good' vibe he was getting. Also, the broken chains scattered around the cross got him wondering if maybe the dead guys scattered around the room weren't the bad guys. He was pretty sure that there wouldn't be so many pistols scattered around the room if they were fine, upstanding citizens.

A soft ' _clink_ ' made him look down, and he raised an eyebrow when he saw that his foot had nudged a sword hilt. Just the hilt, no trace of there ever having been a blade. Curious, he leaned over and carefully picked it up, finding it thankfully free of blood. He fiddled around with it, looking at it and trying to figure out why anyone would carry around an empty sword hilt.

Then a beam of light emerged from the hilt in the shape of a sword.

Ichigo stared.

Okay, he could admit that that was pretty cool. He firmly refused to admit that deep in the back of his mind, a little voice was chanting ' _light saber_!' over and over again. He was _so_ keeping this thing. For science and stuff.

* * *

It took him a few minutes but he managed to get the light-sword to turn off or whatever it meant when the blade disappeared. He stuck the empty hilt into one of the pockets in his jacket and picked up all the loose pistols because he didn't trust that they didn't also do something weird like the sword hilt. They seemed like regular guns only instead of bullets, he learned after a bit of fiddling, they shot short beams of light. So, not only did he have a light saber now, he also had a ton of laser guns. That little voice in the back of his mind (that for some reason sounded like his Inner Hollow)? It was totally doing a happy dance right now.

He'd stashed a bunch of the jewelry he'd had in his inventory in the back of his closet when he'd woken up that day, so he had plenty of space in his inventory for him to store the pistols. He was tempted to experiment and see if there was a way to increase or decrease the strength of the beams the guns shot, but since he was kind of pressed for time, since there was no telling if someone was going to show up in the next five minutes, he just stored them for the time being. He did, however, make a mental note to play - er, practice with that idea the next chance he got. The sword hilt he kept in his jacket, just in case.

There was no way he was touching any of the corpses, so he just walked back up the stairs and exited the church. He was getting hungry and he still had to knock Akagyoushi unconscious before he could eat. By this point it was pretty much a tradition, and they more or less wound up eating together five minutes later when the lizard woke up.

That was when he noticed the slightly larger than normal window in front of him.

[Congratulations! Your _Fallen Angel Form_ is now level 15! You have gained the active skills: _Berserker_ and _Intimidating Aura_! You have gained the passive skills: _Spear Mastery_ and _Counterattack_!]

What. The. Hell.

* * *

It was after Ichigo got home, knocked out Akagyoushi, finished the leftover udon he found, and was brushing his teeth and preparing to get at least a few hours of sleep that he noticed the letters above his head.

He was level forty-eight.

A pause, then a shrug. As neat as that was, he still had to get some sleep. He had both work and school tomorrow, so the mysteries of his leveling ability could wait.

* * *

He saw Asia Argento, a new student, along with that pervert Issei sprout black devil wings during lunch time when he took a wrong turn (again).

He promptly turned around and walked away.

At least now he finally knew what the red letters meant. But now he had to wonder, if red letters meant the person was a Devil, then what did that make Akagyoushi?

* * *

Later that day after school let out and he was again stocking the shelves at work, he met Candice again.

His Charm skill also went up, and he really didn't know why. All they did was talk!

It turned out Candice's favorite color was green and the design on her hat was just something that had been passed down through her family. She had no clue what it meant, and he felt like a huge weight had just been lifted off his shoulders. Of course on the other side of the questioning, Candice managed to get him to admit to being a student at Kuoh Academy, that he'd originally lived in Karakura Town, and that he had a pet lizard.

Candice really wasn't a bad person, he thought as he smiled at her slightly. He pointedly ignored the Voice screaming in his head about bonds and levels.

She blushed and his Charm skill went up again.

Why.

* * *

On the way home he picked up some supplies to repair his walls. He'd put it off long enough.

* * *

Ichigo groaned wearily as he opened his apartment door, punching the charging Akagyoushi and sending him careening into the opposite wall, creating even more slashes in the plaster.

Good thing he'd picked up some repair supplies, he thought smugly, eyeing the knocked-out basilisk as he tried to figure out whether he should eat something first or fix some of the damage to the walls. He debated with himself for almost five minutes before sighing, closing his door, and digging through the things he'd got at the store so he could get started. Considering that Soul Reapers - at least the ones he knew anyway - were a pretty destructive bunch he'd had to repair his room back in the Kurosaki Clinic more than once. The gods knew, Goat-Face was completely useless.

He honestly wasn't sure if being able to completely repair an almost-destroyed wall in under an hour was something to brag about or not, because he was certainly able to do just that, he thought as he stepped back to take a look at a now-pristine wall. Sure he'd only gotten enough things to fix one wall, but it was progress! Feeling rather pleased with himself, he made miso soup for himself and Akagyoushi, who had woken up and was looking at him with pleading eyes. He felt compelled to inform the overgrown reptile that puppy-dog eyes didn't work that well when you were a lizard almost as big as two horses. Said two horse-sized reptile looked offended, then they ate their soup, tradition satisfied.

He still didn't know what he was going to do about that fedora on the counter though...maybe he should donate it to someone? Curious, he picked it up, flipping it around in his hands. Deciding what the hell, he put on the fedora and struck a pose, leaning against the kitchen counter like one of those old-time noir detectives. He only managed to keep a straight face for half a minute before he broke out laughing. That laughter came to an abrupt end when he heard a faint 'ding', and a small window appeared.

[ _Dohnaseek's Fedora_ has been equipped!]

Somehow, he had a sinking feeling in his gut that this was going to be one of those game-mechanics that made him want to tear his hair out. Slowly, he reached up and removed the hat, about to flick away the resulting window telling him that the hat was unequipped when he paused, frowning. It was probably ridiculous, but he remembered some of Keigo's rants about games, and since reality was pretty much sideways anyway, he might as well try out the idea he just thought of. He poked the name of the hat (oh yeah, wasn't Fedora-guy's name Dohnaseek? That might explain it), unconsciously holding his breath as he waited, then quickly poked it again. His hunch paid off, and he was rewarded this time by a much different window appearing.

[Dohnaseek's Fedora - Enchanted Item: A hat once owned by a Fallen Angel. Grants the _Misdirection_ status to the wearer.]

Whoa. Fedora-guy's hat was actually awesome. He didn't know what the status did, but it sounded useful. It was decided, he was so keeping this hat. Of course, his discovery of how to get more details about items brought to mind the matter of the stuff in his inventory. He had a lot of stuff in there that he was going to have to sort out sooner or later, and it would likely be best if it was sooner. Chances were high that there was going to be some useful stuff in there. The spells tab in the skill section of the menu, on the other hand...He was both curious and terrified to see what he could do with that. Damn it, the game mechanics just kept adding more and more stuff to his to-do list! At this rate he would be lucky just to get his homework done on time!

A sudden shiver ran down his spine, jolting him out of his thoughts, and a heavy feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. Unbidden, his head turned in the direction of the school as he sensed a sizable expulsion of energy, and he groaned as he realized that it was going to be a late night. _Again_. He looked at his empty bowl and then back in the direction of the school, debating with himself on whether or not to check out what was happening, but even as he did that he was sighing and getting up to put his bowl in the sink and running some water in it.

Ichigo knew he couldn't just ignore it, but if something happened a third night to keep him awake _someone_ was going to get hurt. A guy could only go for so long on minimal sleep, he complained both inwardly and outwardly.

Akagyoushi looked sympathetic.

Oh great, lizard pity.

He took the hat with him. Something told him that it would probably come in handy.

* * *

His hunch proved to be correct, because he got to the school in time to see the end of a dodgeball match between Gremory and Sitri along with their vice-presidents. Knowing better to rely on the hat he'd hastily put on when he'd heard the racket, he kept his distance, hiding behind walls and moving as quietly as possible as he watched them use what could only be magic. It was rather awe-inspiring, if a little weird, but thankfully it served to keep the Occult Research Club and the Student Council - both of whom were in attendance - from noticing that there was an extra person there. The hat probably helped, he admitted, and started to wonder if instead of an rpg, he was actually in a find-it game where everything he found was exactly what he needed to advance.

After a moment's thought, Ichigo came to the conclusion that he really didn't want to know. Staying a respectable distance away and only catching snatches of conversation due to his hide-and-spy act, from what he gathered the four women were competing to see which group got to go through a portal and get a 'familiar'. It sounded a lot like a shikigami, only you didn't have to be an onmyouji to get one. And oh look, Issei the pervert was hoping to get a familiar with big boobs. Glad to see becoming a devil hadn't affected his personality, insert sarcasm (only not really, because he was actually kind of relieved the kid was still the same kind-but-perverted teenager he'd come to know).

He was fully prepared to walk away, he really was, but much to his surprise, he was too close when the portal opened. Red light flared, pulsating once, twice, before getting brighter and brighter. Before he could even curse, he found himself once again experiencing the sensation of falling from a great height.

When he found out which kami was responsible for his terrible luck he was _so_ going to kick their asses.

* * *

By the time he got his bearings after being dumped out of the portal - and landing in a particularly thorny bush - he found that the group he had unwillingly accompanied had already moved on. At that point he honestly hadn't cared if they knew he was there or not, and right as he made to follow to their path through the forest they'd been transported to, his foot slipped out from under him and he promptly fell down a hill.

Ouch. He got back up, both his body and his pride smarting from that graceless tumble. The forest he was in was actually rather idyllic, if a little creepy with the full moon shining down and the frankly bizarre animal calls in the distance. Since he had gone from knowing which way to go to lost in under two minutes, he was reduced to wandering around, narrowly avoiding various creatures and suspicious-looking plants. He swore that one flower had growled at him, he really did. He growled right back and the flower made a sound that resembled a whimper. Showed that plant who was boss.

And then there was the weird window that had appeared in front of him after he'd landed.

[Quest accepted: Retrieval type. Read more?]

He blinked.

[Quest details: Find a creature to serve as your familiar and bind it to you. One night time limit. Quest rewards: Familiar, 1000xp]

Yet another aspect of the game mechanics that had become his life, he guessed, and sighed in resignation as he closed the window and started walking again. Most of the animals were either bizarre, creepy, or some weird mixture of both. A few of them would be more accurately described as 'monsters', though unfortunately they were not the strangest things he'd ever seen. They weren't even stranger than Rukia's drawings, so all things considered he was doing pretty well even if he was trapped in another dimension again. He was getting rather used to it, he was sad to say, and this time he wasn't going to be left floundering if he could help it. While he wandered around, he used his surprisingly helpful menu to research familiar, getting his first look at the spells tab as he looked up the spells the short summary of familiars said he needed.

Of course, right after he did that he walked straight into a giant wall of blue scales that five minutes later he discovered to be a dragon's foot. He really didn't know how he was supposed to react to that. It was awesome, but at the same time terrifying.

Then the dragon in question noticed he was standing there and everything pretty much went to hell.

* * *

The first blast of fire landed where he'd been mere seconds after he shifted into Devil form and launched himself into the air.

His jump carried him far higher than it should have, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed the bluish-green gems on his boots (he'd put on the boots he'd gotten from the castle because they were the first shoes he'd grabbed) glowing faintly. He made a mental note to examine that a bit closer if he managed to survive his current situation, which was pretty much a test of speed and maneuverability for him, and Ichigo was just glad that at the moment at least he wasn't failing. Though that was probably due in large part to his new skill, _Resist Fire_ , that had been created when he'd felt the very edges of the heat generated by the dragon's fire breath lick at his skin. It kept gaining levels as he swerved and twisted in mid-air to avoid being incinerated, and he honestly thought that even the Captain-Commander would have been jealous of the blue dragon's flames.

One fireball got a little too close for comfort, the world blurring around him as he moved with dizzying speed to avoid the attack, and in desperation Ichigo attempted to use his Telekinesis to push it a little further away than it already was. Because there was nothing solid for the ability to latch onto, it was understandable that it didn't work, leaving him swearing as he tried to both pat out the small fire that had started on his sleeve and fly to the side to avoid the follow-up attack. He managed both, but just barely.

That dragon was really starting to piss him off, he decided, a tic forming below one eye as he flew upwards to gain altitude and get a better look at the dragon.

It was a gigantic blue Western dragon, complete with wings that were currently folded across its' back, black horns, and huge black claws. He wasn't kidding when he said it was gigantic, its size reminding him of fighting Yammy in Resurrecion. He supposed he was just lucky that all it was doing was swinging its large head around, tracking his movements and occasionally breathing fire at him. Using his Repel skill to form a bubble around him helped him avoid some of the heat he couldn't get away from completely, and his Resist Fire skill picked up the slack.

Ichigo could feel the timer on his transformation counting down, and his eyes darted around as he tried to figure out an escape route even as he dove to avoid a stream of dragon fire. It was against his nature to flee from a battle without launching a single attack, even as a glance over the dragon's head revealed that he was nowhere near a high enough level to defeat it.

[Tiamat, Level 500]

That was one tough dragon, he thought in respect, and he quickly attempted to circle around so that he was behind the dragon and hopefully in its - or maybe her? It seemed female now that he had a chance to look at it - blind spot. As he moved, it occurred to him to wonder - did his Devil form even have any attacking skills? He had his light spears in Fallen Angel form, but he didn't recall seeing any Devil-specific attacks on his skill list...Was this form really only good for defending?! If he lived, you better believe he was going to change that!

For lack of a better plan, he used his telekinesis to pick up rocks, dirt, and small trees that had been ripped up by the impact of the dragon's missed fireballs hitting the ground and started tossing them at the reptile's eyes. It was hard to aim, he was moving so quickly, but he thought that if he could momentarily blind the dragon, he might get a minute's head-start on escaping. His plan, however, was thoroughly derailed when Tiamat turned around faster than something her size should really be able to and breathed another blast of fire straight at him. He only barely managed to dodge it, folding his wings and diving straight downwards, and the searing heat reminded him sharply of the one time he'd gotten a sunburn when he was five. That had been unpleasant, to put it mildly, and he scowled at the memory as he glared at the dragon.

Seconds from hitting the ground, he stretched his wings out like a parachute and pulled up sharply, barrel-rolling to avoid being impaled on a tree branch. While he did that, he also picked up another branch and sent it flying towards Tiamat with a telekinetic push, screaming through the air like it was shot from a cannon. He managed to spin around to hover barely five feet over the ground just in time to see the branch _go up the dragon's nose_. It felt like time stopped, Ichigo's mind going blank as what just happened tried to register and failed. It made him feel a bit better to see the 'what the fuck' look on Tiamat's face that said that she couldn't believe it either. Several tense minutes passed before the silence around them was suddenly, and explosively, broken. By a sneeze. Tiamat's sneeze, in fact, which was accompanied by a burst of fire from both nostrils. Twin streams of smoke flowed from her nose as she sniffed, glaring daggers at Ichigo and unmistakably bristling when the teen choked back a laugh but not actually attacking. There wouldn't be a point really, the tension had been well and truly broken.

Belatedly, Ichigo told her, "Bless you," because that was what you said when someone sneezed. He wasn't sure what the etiquette was for when the one sneezing was a dragon, but he figured he couldn't go wrong with basic courtesy. Well, he could, but at least no one could say he didn't try to be civil. Tiamat eyed him skeptically, then seemed to shrug it off, rustling her wings and flicking her tail in what he could have sworn was a 'forget about it' motion. While he tried to figure out why his brain had chosen to translate the motion that way, slowly descending to the ground now that the fight was over, Tiamat looked closely at the abnormally skilled Devil hatchling in front of her. She wasn't exaggerating when she thought that he was strong for his age; not many could avoid her attacks even if she was barely paying attention and not really trying to aim.

That this Devil could was worthy of notice, and the least she could do was admit that he'd done a good job at surviving her lazy attacks for as long as he had. She was one of the Five Dragon Kings, the Chaos Karma Dragon, so that was no easy feat. Though his method of stopping her attacks left something to be desired, it was rather ingenious. Unorthodox but efficient. She liked that. Looking at the young Devil calculatingly as he shifted to a more human form in a flash of blue light (which merely showed his good taste in colors, in her opinion), the wheels in her mind turned. Since he was in the Familiar Forest, he must have been looking for one of the creatures that gave the place its name, even if he was far from the usual routes. Really, that was the only reason she deigned to show herself in the forest. The place where she'd been resting was so far off the beaten path that no one would have thought to look there. With the full moon shining above and all the other creatures especially active, it had seemed like a good place for a nap. Never had she expected to find such an interesting young Devil, let alone _be_ found by one.

She had just been minding her own business when the orange-haired Devil had bumped into her foot and she decided to roast him for the insult. That he had avoided the first blast had been curious but otherwise not noteworthy, especially considering his enchanted boots. Dodging the second and third had peaked her interest, and it was when he'd evaded her fourth, fifth, and sixth blasts that she had started to take notice and put some minor effort into hitting him with her attacks. His movements had been quick and precise as he flew around the streams of fire that sought to incinerate him, and even when he'd been close enough to the flames that the heat should have affected him, turned his skin red at the very least, he had remained unscathed. It was certainly impressive for any being, let alone a mere Devil. She was curious now, and she had never been one to leave her curiosity unsatisfied.

And the best way to get answers is get close to what was causing the questions, she decided. She had never acted the part of Devil Familiar before, but it couldn't be that different from a pact with a magician, and she had formed those several times over the millennia.

* * *

While Tiamat had been thinking, Ichigo had come to the conclusion that his mind went in a weird direction because of the previous times he'd been around cat-Yoruichi. Speaking of, even though meeting Yoruichi had taught him a valuable lesson about judging gender by voice alone, he was going to call the dragon a she until corrected. For some reason, he just thought Tiamat was a her...also, that name seemed familiar to him. Had he heard the name referring to a woman and that's why his mind made the leap? It would make sense, if he could just remember where he'd heard it before...

He was broken out of his thoughts by a low rumbling, and when he looked around in confusion, he was treated to the sight of the blue dragon straightening up. He could swear she was posing as she started speaking, a cool, feminine voice emerging from her throat. "You are rather strong, not at all like the young Devils who usually come here. You managed to dodge my attacks with skill that your youth would belie, and I find myself curious about you." Tiamat said regally, "Very well, I shall consent to be your familiar! Be grateful for I, Tiamat, the Chaos Karma Dragon of the Five Dragon Kings, do not choose to serve just anyone!"

"You have established a bond with _Tiamat_!" The Voice screeched, causing Ichigo to jump, "Your _Tiamat_ bond is now level one!"

 _What_?!

* * *

Truth be told, he was surprised that he was surprised, because with the way his day had been going, he probably should have expected something like this to happen. It wouldn't be the first time someone he fought turned into an ally afterwards and it probably wouldn't be the last, but it usually took a little longer. And really, this was actually convenient since he had the quest thing he needed to do, and Tiamat could definitely handle herself in a fight, unlike most of the weird animals he saw on his way to running into her. Yeah, this wouldn't be so bad, he thought, opening the menu and watching as his surroundings grayed out, including Tiamat. That was a handy trick, he would need to remember that.

Going to the spells tab and touching a finger to the search bar he'd discovered earlier, he typed in the word 'familiar' on the keyboard that appeared in front of him. Seconds later, only two spells were left on the page. The first one was called _Summon Familiar_ , and the second one was  _Bind Familiar_ , the second spell likely being the one he needed to officially make Tiamat his familiar. Luckily, after he clicked on _Bind Familiar_  a window appeared, giving him the option of creating a shortcut to the spell, which apparently meant that to use it all he had to do was say the name of the spell.

Very helpful.

He did the same thing with _Summon Familiar_ , because he wasn't about to lie to himself and think that there would never be a reason he needed to use it. That was just asking for trouble.

Ichigo closed the menu and as the world regained its color, he looked up at Tiamat and smirked slightly, telling her honestly, "I look forward to working with you," and then he took a breath, raising one hand to point at Tiamat as he intoned, " _Bind Familiar_!"A bright blue magic circle appeared in front of his hand, and the magic didn't even take a minute before it took effect. He practically felt something _click_ into place as the circle disappeared and the glow of the magic faded. It was like a jolt of static electricity buzzed through him, making him tense for a moment before it settled into his skin like it belonged there. He felt...energized, accomplished like he had when he'd first learned Zangetsu's name. He'd never realized how much he'd missed that feeling until now.

[Quest complete] The window appeared in front of him, and he didn't even flinch. He was too used to weird pop-ups to be startled by one now. [Gain _Familiar - Tiamat_ , 1000xp. Kurosaki Ichigo has gained a level.] Huh, he must have been pretty close to leveling up earlier. That pseudo-fight with Tiamat had probably brought him right to the edge, and the quest completion had pushed him over. The second window was something he'd only seen once before.

[Tiamat has permanently joined your party as an active-combat type. You can now request to fight alongside Tiamat for an indefinite period of time.]

Okay, that was cool. Also, was there just something about him that attracted reptiles? First Akagyoushi and now Tiamat. He was starting to wonder.

Ichigo looked up at Tiamat. "You wouldn't know how to get back to the Human World, would you?"

It turned out she did, and he thanked her profusely even as he braced himself for the uncomfortable feeling of portal-travel. The last thing he heard was a warning not to summon her for minor things, as she was a busy dragon.

Somehow he didn't think that that would be a problem. However, his definition of minor did tend to differ from most peoples.

* * *

The portal dropped him outside Kuoh Academy, which was nice, if a bit painful. He also discovered that miraculously, he was _still wearing the hat_. Maybe it was part of the game-powers? Otherwise it would have blown off seconds into meeting Tiamat, considering the speeds he'd been moving at.

After he managed to get over the dizziness enough to stand back up he went straight home, and he must have looked pretty bad because Akagyoushi paused mid-ambush and then quietly retreated to the guestroom.

His futon had never felt more comfortable.

* * *

When Ichigo woke up the next morning and shuffled into the bathroom to get ready for school, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and stared.

...At least the bags under his eyes weren't too bad. That was something to be thankful for, he mused tiredly, brushing his teeth mechanically and wondering if he should invest in some concealer on the off-chance that this became a habit. He eventually decided against that idea, because he hadn't yet fallen that far.

Breakfast consisted of instant noodles that he shared with Akagyoushi, who had apparently stayed the night.

Their bond went up a level. He wasn't really surprised, but _damn_ the Voice was annoying.

* * *

The next time Ichigo saw Issei do something abnormal (in this case transform his left arm into a crimson gauntlet), he promptly dragged the pervert someplace secluded to demand answers. For the first time he consciously used his Intimidation skill, and amidst the frantic babbling and half-excuses, Issei gave him the full story. It was a lot that he already knew (he'd read about the Three Factions, though the Rating Games were news to him), but he was glad that Yuuma/Raynare (her real name apparently) was dead and the pervert had gotten closure. The info about the Sacred Gears and the Evil Pieces was rather surprising, though that was mostly because he hadn't gotten that far in his reading yet.

Apparently, Issei was a Pawn, alternatively the weakest and the strongest Piece due to its power of Promotion i.e. the ability to take on the traits and powers of other pieces when in enemy territory. The definition of the 'enemy territory' seemed to boil down to 'wherever the King said it was', the King piece being the boss of the peerage. The pervert's Sacred Gear was called Boosted Gear, one of thirteen Longinus, weapons capable of killing even a god, and it could double Issei's power every ten seconds.

He didn't know whether that made Issei lucky or unlucky. Power wasn't always a good thing, he reflected, scowling at the thought and turning his attention back to parsing through his victim - er, informant's babbling.

It turned out Gremory Rias and Shitori Sona aka Sitri Sona were both High-Class Devils. Their peerages were the Occult Research Club and the Student Council respectively, and he couldn't say he was surprised.

The explanation finished about the time the lunch period ended so he let the pervert go, much to Hyoudou's immense relief. Ichigo graciously pretended not to notice the tears of relief pouring from Issei's eyes before he ran away. Poor pervert didn't really know what had hit him, which was why he'd performed his impromptu interrogation that way; less chance for Issei to dodge his questions.

([ _Intelligence_ has gained a point!]

[Passive skill: _Strategic Planning_ has been created!])

...He didn't know if he was offended by that or not.

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second of two chapters today! Happy 4th of July!! <3

Three days later, Ichigo found out what the Devil form he'd acquired in that vault was.

It happened the way most things tended to, with him minding his own business as he leveled up his Telepathy by using it on various squirrels. When he'd checked out his Devil form's skills after returning from school the day he'd talked to Issei in the hopes of finding  _something_  along the lines of an attack skill, he'd discovered that his encounter with Tiamat had given him Pyrokinesis. He was hesitant to try that out in the middle of a forest, even if it was just level one, so reading the minds of small tree-dwelling rodents it was. Other than that, he'd been mildly depressed to see that yes, his Devil form really did seem to be best suited to defense.

Back in the present, he was getting tired of hearing high-pitched, squeaky voices chanting about nuts in his head. Canceling his Telepathy, which now up to a whopping level three, he had barely a minute before his Devil transformation also timed out. Aside from taking a moment to blink at the timing, there was nothing else to do but seize the chance for a break and eat some of the rice-balls he'd packed for a snack. It was as he was just finishing off the last of them that he had to abruptly grab his bag and leap forward, turning the dive into a roll in order to avoid the fireball impacting right where he'd been sitting. The poor log he'd been using as a chair was reduced to cinders.

Springing back to his feet, Ichigo looked towards where the attack had come from, tossing his bag up to hook onto one of the high branches of the surrounding trees to get it out of the literal line of fire. The one responsible soon came into view, and he groaned quietly as he looked at the Stray Devil in front of him, for what else could it be? No other Devils he'd seen looked deformed like that.

For the most part the Devil's torso and legs were humanoid, save for the scales covering its' feet, as were the arms down to his - the form was male - hands and his head except for the hair and ears. The Stray Devil's hands were long, blade-like red claws that flickered with bright orange flames, and his hair was a writhing mane of pure fire, his ears pointed like an elf's. A pair of thick horns jutted from the Devil's forehead, and the plain t-shirt and slacks he was wearing were threadbare.

The Stray Devil snarled, flicking his hands to send tongues of flame slithering towards where Ichigo was crouching, forcing the orange-haired teen to jump straight up in order to dodge. He was profoundly thankful that he had decided to wear the enchanted boots during the day's training session to experiment with what he could do with them. The Boots of Winter's Grace, as he'd learned they were called thanks to his new trick with the screens, merely increased his jumping ability by a large margin, which definitely came in handy in a situation like this. The problem was, his Fallen Angel and Devil forms were still recharging, or at least he thought so, so he was basically a human against a Stray Devil.

Yeah, he was kind of doubtful about his chances of winning, at least not without an insane amount of luck, even with his boots making sure that he had no trouble staying ahead of the Stray Devil's heated attacks.

Ichigo spent the next few minutes dodging the Stray Devil's fire along with being profoundly grateful that his Resist Fire ability had carried over from his Devil form to his human one, as he didn't quite manage to avoid all of the fire-whips. His pants now sported several scorch marks to match the ones on the surrounding grass and trees, though the skin underneath was unharmed aside from a bit of redness that quickly faded as he moved.

This seemed to frustrate the attacking Stray, and he made a sound like a cross between a trumpet and a door screech, venting his anger as he lashed out with glowing streams of controlled fire. His blade-like claws sliced through the air, sending scythes of flame towards Ichigo and forcing the former Substitute Soul Reaper to run almost straight up a tree before performing back-flip off the trunk. Mid-air, he had the bizarre thought that maybe he should try out for Ninja Warrior; at the rate he was going he was certainly athletic enough, and it was a chance for healthy competition without the risk of dying...unlike what he was doing now, which was putting the enchanted boots to good use.

Jumping around like a demented rabbit as he kicked off the ground and rebounded off trees, he twisted and contorted around bursts of heat that he couldn't fully avoid. It was like a bizarre game of whack-a-mole with him as the mole and flames for the hammer. He was proud to note that the mole was winning, and when he got close enough, he seized the opportunity to kick the damn Stray in the face, using him as a spring-board to avoid yet another lash of fire. His Resist Fire skill might be gaining levels like crazy, but those whips still stung like hell when they connected!

A minute later the Stray gave up on ranged attacks and charged Ichigo head-on, which made dodging that much harder because the fire-controlling Devil was  _fast_. Thinking back to Issei's rundown on the Evil Pieces, he figured that the Stray he was facing must have been a Knight. The swings of the Stray's claws left trails of shimmering heat-haze behind them and it was a test of flexibility for Ichigo to avoid being sliced in two.

While Ichigo ducked and rolled, trying to put some distance between the two of them, he mentally cataloged each move and anything that looked like it could be a weakness. The Stray apparently had to swing his entire arm to use the fire blades as projectiles and used his entire body as a pivot to swing them with more force, Ichigo couldn't take advantage of that unless his speed increased. One option down, he thought as he ducked another swing and felt a swathe of heat pass over his head, leaving behind the scent of charred hair and the thought that now he'd probably have to get a haircut.

Another option was spraying his opponent with water, but as there wasn't a fire-hydrant in sight and he hadn't gotten around to looking through his spell-list for any water spells, that was another idea down the drain. He cartwheeled away from a downward slice of the Stray's claws, and surprisingly the Stray snarled, his eyes burning with rage as he barked out, "Stay still so I can kill you! I, the great Leorz, the Eruption Bishop, will not be defeated by a mere human!" His flaming hair burned higher in his anger and changed to a deep red color.

That brought Ichigo up short for a moment, as he hadn't expected the Stray to be able to talk. The hesitation almost cost him as the Stray took advantage of his pause to swipe at him again, but his magic boots saved him. He was up and over the Devil's head before the Stray really registered his move, and he seized the moment to kick the bastard in the back and send him tumbling forward. That ought to teach the jerk to take a cheap shot at him.

His training spot was taking a lot of damage, some of the blackened streaks on the ground beginning to smolder rather alarmingly, smoke filling the air from the charred grass and trees, and Ichigo was just pissed off enough that what he did next seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

* * *

It took just one thought to activate his untried Devil form. The characteristic flash of blue filled his vision, but for some reason it seemed... _icy_. Like he'd been dunked into a frozen pond and the cold was piercing straight into his bones. It was a shock to his system to be certain, but not a bad shock. More like a large jolt of caffeine, jolting him from a sleepy doze to full wakefulness. It was startling, how sharp and clear everything looked when the blue light cleared away.

Blinking swiftly to get his bearings, Ichigo noticed several things; the first being that he was taller than he had been a minute ago, and the second was that the clearing had somehow completely frozen over. Ice and snow covered the ground and the trees, and it was like he'd been transported into a winter wonderland. The Stray - Leorz - was gaping at him. Just to be a jerk, Ichigo announced, " _Devil Form - Duke Valefor_." Huh, his voice had changed too - it was a lot smoother and a bit deeper, not to mention a lot colder. Seriously, if he'd been the one listening, he would think that there should have been icicles dripping from his words.

He had a feeling that he knew what this form's main thing was, but deciding to take the time to experiment, Ichigo stretched out one hand (and yup, this definitely wasn't his body, he'd have to find a mirror after this) and concentrated. A bolt of ice flew out of his hand, though sadly his aim was a bit off and it only hit Leorz' shoulder. But hey, the Stray's whole arm promptly froze solid, so that's something!

Since it turned out his Duke Valefor form could control ice and snow, which was awesome, he no longer had to worry about his opponent's fire powers.

A savage smirk spread across his lips, his eyes gleaming as he stared at the now very nervous Stray. Using both hands he began hurling bolts of ice at Leorz, the other Devil frantically diving out of the way of the attacks. Oh, how the tables had turned! Wherever his missed shots hit the ground, a large, sharp flower of ice bloomed, reminding him a lot of that one trick of Toshiro's. He switched it up as he tried to improve his aim with the ice bolts - changing from concentrated ice magic to widespread blasts of frost and back again.

His ability to hit his target began to improve, the fire-controlling Stray being nicked by the ice magic being thrown at him, and Ichigo was intrigued to see that where the Stray was hit the skin turned blue, almost black. It was like watching accelerated frostbite...Neat, but terrifying. Leorz had since turned his flames on himself, bathing the afflicted areas in blasts of fire to try and mitigate the damage. As far as Ichigo could tell, it didn't work, but it was something to watch, as the Stray apparently didn't care about his clothes and he himself was immune to his own power. He let that happen for a few moments, then got bored, both with letting his enemy try something new and the standard icebolts and frostblasts. As a remedy to both, he began conjuring frozen spears in the air around him, testing the limits of what he could do with this new form. A rain of razor sharp icicles flew towards Leorz, the Stray panicking and frantically sending blast after blast of fire towards the oncoming storm. It had no effect, and one of the icicles speared the Stray through the thigh, drawing a pained howl from the flaming Devil.

That was when Ichigo brought his hands up until they were level with his chest, facing inward and towards the other, leaving plenty of space between them. He'd seen something like this on one of those animated shows that Keigo liked and somehow got Karin hooked on, so he figured he might give it a try. He set about creating a whirlwind of small, sharp shards of ice between his two hands, and when he judged it big enough he sent it flying towards the bleeding, snarling Leorz. It hit the Stray in the side when he managed a limping lunge in an attempt to avoid it, and the impacted side was promptly torn almost completely to shreds by the spinning ice shards that mimicked razor blades.

By now the snow around Leorz was dyed a deep red from the Stray's blood and Ichigo didn't want to risk this transformation's time running out before he won. It was time to get down to business, he could experiment with attacks later.

Four minutes later, Leorz' hair was completely gone, his hands were frozen into blocks of ice, his fangs were chattering, and the Stray generally looked like he had a terrible case of frostbite. Ichigo decided to put the poor bastard out his misery and stretched out his hand again, aiming his palm towards the partially-frozen Stray. An icicle spear through the chest finished him off.

[Active skill:  _Devil Form - Duke Valefor_  has gained a level!]

The former Substitute Soul Reaper wandered over to the tree he'd tossed his bag into, having to fly up and break through the ice gluing it to the limb, but as he shouldered it something occurred to him. He immediately accessed the game menu and went to his skills, tracking down his Valefor form and checking it out. It turned out there was a lot of information on his newest form's powers and abilities, and the more he read the more impressed Ichigo was. Damn, this guy had been pretty fucking strong. And his skills were nothing to sneeze at either.

A lot of the skills were grayed out though, showing that he wasn't a high enough level to use them. He would have to find time to work on that - maybe he should look into writing up a training schedule? It was something to think about, especially when he had a lot of thing to practice with. Also, now that he had Duke Valefor, he could also practice his Pyrokinesis without having to worry about burning down anything important. When he was done reading, he exited the game menu and was about to set off back to town when another idea came to him. This time he conjured up a slab of ice thin and smooth enough to double as a mirror and took a good long look at himself. Then he promptly gaped like an idiot, which frankly looked weird on his current face.

Duke Valefor, as it turned out, was 6"8 tall, and could only be described as absolutely gorgeous. Pure white hair that just barely brushed the collar of his coat framed his face, which was pale and regal. White eyebrows were positioned perfectly above a pair of icy blue eyes, and his lips were slightly pale, with the bottom one being a bit fuller than the top one. His body was slim but muscular, though his current outfit concealed the muscles he could feel he had admirably. Four pairs of pitch black Devil wings were visible behind him. His clothes had changed along with his form, and he was now wearing a white coat trimmed in pale blue and held closed across his chest with silver clasps, the garment going down to just passed his knees. The shirt beneath that was white, from what he could tell, and his trousers were ice blue with white detailing along the seams on the outside of his legs. He was wearing knee-high white leather boots with pale blue patterning around the tops and on the heels, and the silvers clasps on them matched the ones on his coat.

Through a great effort of will, Ichigo managed to close his mouth, and he spent a moment admiring his current appearance.

A minute later his transformation wore off. There was a pause, and then a loud yelp echoed through the frozen clearing, " _Jeez_  that's cold!"

[Passive skill:  _Resist Cold_  has been created!]

Ichigo made it back to his apartment in record time.

* * *

The king of perverts and the Occult Research Club weren't at school the next day.

It didn't take much thought to conclude that their absence must have something to do with the Devil side of things. He marveled at the fact that people were running off to deal with some sort of crisis and he wasn't one of them. It was a novel feeling to have to it be not because he was powerless, but because it really didn't have anything to do with him. He took a moment to enjoy the sensation, and then he took out a notebook and began making a rough draft for his training schedule, looking up occasionally to make sure he didn't miss anything important.

School hours went by smoothly, and he took several recently discovered shortcuts to make it home earlier than usual.

Akagyoushi was certainly surprised, and it took the lizard a few seconds to recover enough to launch his customary attack. He was promptly knocked out via the application of an uppercut to the jaw. The demon-lizard hit the floor with a loud thud, but his walls remained intact, so he counted that as a win. Ichigo then changed into his work clothes, ate a sandwich he'd prepared and stuck in the refrigerator that morning, and then headed out for his shift at the store.

Halfway there, however, he paused when twenty pop-ups appeared and informed him that his Sense Danger skill was picking up something. Yeah, tell him something he didn't know - he could practically feel the glare from whoever was following him burning a hole in his back. Discreetly looking around for the one triggering his danger-sense, he wasn't surprised that he didn't see anyone before he continued walking. Whoever it was obviously knew what they were doing when it came to staying out of sight.

([Passive skill: _Sense Hidden Presence_ has been created!]

[Passive skill: _Sense Hidden Presence_ has gained a level!])

Cool. Still didn't help him figure out who was following him, but still cool. He shrugged it off as he reached the store entrance and walked in to start work, whoever it was not seeming inclined to actually enter the story after him, so he figured as long as he stayed away from windows that he should be fine.

* * *

Candice showed up halfway through his shift and somehow Ichigo wasn't surprised in the least. He didn't want to think too deeply about why he wasn't, probably he was too used to it from Rukia and her Soul Reaper pals, so instead he forced himself to smile slightly when she made an appearance.

She was wearing her customary Quincy-themed hat, a halter-top, a skirt that ended just below her knees, and flats, he saw, and more than a few guys browsing in the store ran into each other when she walked in. He honestly couldn't blame them, even if some of the things they knocked over would be a pain to clean up. The green-haired woman seemed a bit flustered as she approached him, and mumbled something under her breath that he had to strain his ears to hear, then ask her to repeat herself, just because he couldn't believe what he'd heard.

"I said," Candice spoke more clearly, though her face was a dark shade of pink, "Would you like to go out with me after your shift? I know a place that serves some really good tea..."

Well, this was new. He didn't think anyone had ever asked him out before, instead simply telling him where they were going and threatening him should he not show up. He wasn't sure whether this was better or worse, actually. Effectively put in the spotlight and feeling the glares of every single male in the store - even the cashier! - Ichigo could only say, "Sure. My shift ends in a couple of hours." and watch as Candice bounced in place happily, which was rather distracting.

(Ichigo politely pretended not to notice the death-glares he was now receiving and instead focused on trying to figure out what the hell you even did on a date. He was forced to admit to himself that he had no clue as Candice left the store.)

"Your _Candice Catnipp_ bond has gained a level!"

Oh look, the Voice had returned.

* * *

The rest of his workday passed in a bit of a daze for the orange-haired teen, though he clearly remembered the ribbing he'd gotten from the cashier about what color the kids' hair would be if he got together with Candice. What color  _did_ mixing green and orange make? He wanted to say brown, but he wasn't sure. That line of thought probably wasn't what the cashier was aiming for, but that's immediately where his mind went.

He also tried to ignore the way his co-worker's voice had sounded distinctly jealous during said ribbing. It wasn't his business and he had bigger things to worry about, such as figuring out what you even did on a date. He didn't know Candice that well, nor had he been in Kuoh long enough to know where to take her even if he did know her interests. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place, he concluded as he clocked out and exited the store after his shift, finding Candice waiting for him. He had to take a moment to absorb that (and wonder how long she'd been waiting), before the woman grabbed his wrist and proceeded to drag him down the street, presumably to the place she'd been talking about earlier.

That turned out to be correct, and to his surprise Ichigo actually recognized the cafe that Candice dragged him to - he'd walked passed it about five times when he'd first come to city. He hadn't gone inside, though that was about to be remedied if the way his 'date' was headed towards the doors was in indication. He thankfully wasn't wearing his work clothes, having stashed the store apron he'd been wearing in his locker, which left him in a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Not the most date-worthy attire, but at least nothing had holes in it. He was fully prepared to admit that he was _not_ prepared for a date.

Five minutes later they sitting at a table next to the window, sipping their tea (which _was_ pretty good, he wouldn't lie) and making idle chit-chat - which felt rather awkward on Ichigo's part. He'd never been good at small talk, ask anyone he knew and they'd tell you that, but he made the effort since the woman across from him seemed so happy to be there. Maybe she'd just wanted someone to come to the cafe with her? Sitting by yourself could get pretty boring. He really wished he could call Yuzu for some advice, because no one ever said emotional stuff was his strong suit...

The orange-haired teen had just chuckled at the end of a hilarious story about someone Candice knew when an inexplicable shiver ran down his spine. His gaze sharpened, his good mood plummeting as two pop-ups appeared, one for his Sense Danger skill and one for his Sense Hidden Presence skill. Apparently his new stalker had returned, but once again he couldn't pinpoint where they were hiding. A few tense moments later, during which he covered up the frown on his face by finishing off the last of his tea, he came to the conclusion that whoever was watching him wasn't planning on making a move right then, which was good considering the amount of bystanders who could get caught in the crossfire.

Forcibly acting as though nothing was wrong as he turned his attention back to Candice, Ichigo made the effort to smile at his date (he still couldn't quite get his head around that fact that he, of all people, was on a date with an attractive woman) and try to keep the conversation going, "So, tell me more about yourself?" More information would definitely be helpful if Candice decided to ask him out on another date.

That was apparently all the invitation Candice needed, and she smiled brilliantly as she proceeded to basically tell him her life story. He didn't know if it was a good thing or bad thing that that happened with people he wasn't fighting. He certainly hadn't gotten anything like that from the Stray the other day, but maybe that was just because neither of them had cared? There was really no way to know for sure, but by the time she was done his head was reeling with information.

Candice Catnipp had been born in Germany and would be twenty-two next month, she was great at sewing and marksmanship, her hair was naturally green, and she was in Japan on an internship with an up-and-coming designer. She liked cats, was okay with dogs, and hated bats with a fiery passion. He couldn't really blame her there, as whenever he thought of bats he always remembered Ulquiorra and shuddered. She had practiced her Japanese extensively before arriving, but sometimes her accent thickened, usually when she was excited about something.

Her new favorite food was daifuku, the first thing she'd eaten after landing in Japan, and she liked stormy weather, especially lightning storms. She also enjoyed swimming and hang-gliding (an odd combination, but who was he to judge?), and she had recently begun learning how to bake. He had only made an appreciative noise when he'd heard that tidbit, feeling a pang of longing for one of Yuzu's homemade cookies, but somehow it had evolved into her promising to bring him something to try the next time she made something.

Ichigo had no clue how it had happened, and he was sitting there the whole time!

Releasing a quiet sigh, he made an effort to smile as he began talking once she was through. He made sure to keep the information to a bare minimum, but Candice had shared so much information about herself that he felt compelled to at least try to return the favor. Mostly he talked about how he'd lived in Karakura, the fights he'd got into because of his hair color, when his birthday was, and about his sisters. The less he said about his classmates the better, as he really didn't want to end the outing on a sour note.

Before he knew it, they were talking like old friends, laughing and joking - though his laughs were more like chuckles - as they drank cup after cup of tea and finally broke down and ordered some sandwiches to go with it. They were both getting a little hungry by then, as the date had been going on for at least a few hours. He didn't know for sure since he was having too much of a good time to bother checking his watch.

If only his stalker would stop glaring holes in his back, the day would be pretty close to perfect.

* * *

The sun was starting to go down by the time they left the cafe (Candice paying the bill despite his protesting, and it took a heated, whispered argument before he reluctantly backed down) and Ichigo volunteered to walk Candice back to the hotel she was staying at. It was the least he could do since she'd paid for the food and drinks. At some point during the deluge of details about her internship, she'd said she was looking for an apartment to rent since she planned to stay in Japan awhile, but she hadn't found one yet and so was staying at a decent hotel.

They were cutting through a deserted park - not the brightest move, he would admit - and Ichigo had just turned his head towards Candice to say something when his Sense Danger skill began going crazy and he instinctively grabbed the green-haired woman and jumped back. He moved just in time, as three glowing spears impaled the ground where they had been standing a few seconds later. Ichigo growled under his breath as Candice gasped in shock, and with a sinking feeling that he recognized those spears, he looked up in the direction they came from.

[Kalawarner, Level 38]

Yup, that was definitely Kalawarner, and she had certainly leveled up. The Fallen Angel looked furious and hovered several feet above the ground as she formed another spear in her hands. "Die, you bastard!" She shrieked, hurling spears as fast as she could make them towards her target. Ichigo was surprised at how much faster she was, each spear appearing more like a shooting star than a deadly attack. It was oddly beautiful in spite of, or maybe because of, its lethalness. He was reminded of Rukia's Sode no Shirayuki as he pulled his friend(?) out of the way of the shining streams of light as he dodged them himself.

"Ichigo, what is going on?!" Candice raised her voice to be heard over the Fallen Angel's screams of rage.

"I don't know! I fought her once, but it wasn't like she was hurt that bad!" He responded, pulling them both behind a tree. There was a hard knot of suspicion forming in his gut though, because maybe she wasn't just pissed off because of the injuries he'd given her. It might not be the injuries, all of which looked to have healed with no problems judging by the way Kalawarner was moving, so much as the fact that he'd fought her at all. A fight that took time, time that perhaps she hadn't had if something else was going on that she thought was important? He'd also knocked her out in addition to the wounds from the fight itself, so it would have taken a decent amount of time for the woman to regain consciousness. "What is your problem?!" He yelled from behind his cover, not stupid enough to actually poke his head around the trunk to see what was happening when the storm of spears abruptly ceased.

He tensed when he saw the light coming from the other side of the tree, windows appearing rapidly as his sense danger skill went haywire. Ichigo had always trusted his instincts, and he wasn't about to stop now. Grabbing Candice's hand, he pulled her after him as he sprinted away from the tree just in the nick of time. From the corner of his eye, he saw Kalawarner gearing up to throw the spear in her hand, the weapon glowing with a diamond-like brilliance, and...were those _tears_? The light of the spear reflected off of something on her face, the glimmer lost in the shine of the light spear. Kalawarner didn't strike him as the kind of woman who cried for nothing. If those were tears, she was shedding them for a reason she considered important.

Over the sound of the spear impacting the ground in front of the tree they'd be using for cover, through the explosion that tore loose chunks of earth and sent both he and Candice flying, he thought he heard Kalawarner say something. It was hard to tell through the ringing in his ears, but as he landed hard on his back, rolling with the impact as he curled protectively around Candice, he thought it sounded like, " _You bastard! They're dead because of you!_ "

That suspicion he had? It pretty much solidified into an iron bar in his stomach. He groaned, pushing himself up because there was no time for laying down during fights and he didn't know how long it took the Fallen Angel to charge an attack like that. Judging from the way their former shelter was tilting forward towards the new crater in the ground, it probably took some time, but that didn't mean anything when she could conjure regular light spears pretty much instantly. Candice looked confused as he pulled her to her feet, checking for injuries at the same time. She looked okay, aside from the new stains on her clothes, twigs in her hair, and the small tear in her skirt, which was pretty damn good all things considered. He didn't think she regularly got attacked by spear-wielding women with black wings, but she was recovering from the surprise pretty quickly, especially when she saw the damage Kalawarner's last attack had done.

Candice started to scowl, her green eyes narrowing as she growled, glaring in their attacker's direction - and were those _sparks_ coming from her clenched fists? The hair on the back of his neck stood up, and he hurriedly shielded Candice as he pulled her behind another still-standing tree, not getting the time to examine the sparks thing too closely. He took a deep breath, letting it out at the same time he thumped the back of his head against the trunk, saying apologetically, "I am so sorry about this, Candice." He grunted when a streak of light went shooting by and nicked his arm, drawing a thin line of blood as he continued, "I don't know why Kalawarner is holding a grudge, but I am sorry you got caught up in this -" He was cut off when the green-haired woman pulled out of his arms and marched out into the open, glaring venomously at Kalawarner.

[Candice Catnipp, Level 36]

Wait, how the hell had he never noticed Candice's level before? He quickly answered his own question; because she had introduced herself after they met, and he spent so much time talking to her when she showed up that it completely slipped his mind. It was like with Akagyoushi, he was so used to the giant lizard hanging around and attacking him, he didn't need to know how strong he was. It was enough that he was there and Ichigo could beat him when he decided to attack. With Candice is was more or less the same, hopefully minus the attack part.

Ichigo was further surprised when Candice hissed, "You _bitch_ , how dare you interrupt my date with Ichigo! You're gonna pay for that!" Holding her right hand out to the side, the green-haired woman chanted, " _Spirit of lightning, heed my call and come forth to strike down my foe!_ "

From out of the clear sky, a single bolt of lightning descended, striking Candice's outstretched hand and leaving it wreathed in crackling green electricity up to her elbow. Her fingers curled like claws, the busty German woman peeled her lips back from her teeth in a snarl before swinging her hand out towards the stunned Fallen Angel, releasing the lightning towards her in a lashing bolt.

Kalawarner was too surprised by a _human_ calling down _lightning_ to move out of the way in time, and her light spear didn't make much of a shield when she was struck by a million volts of electricity. She screamed in shock and pain, dropping to the ground as her wings jerked and seized, some of her feathers smoldering along with her clothes - which had been pretty much destroyed by the lightning strike, he noticed with a faint blush. Not that they'd been in good shape to begin with. He realized with a jolt that she'd been wearing the same clothes from when he'd fought her, literally the same clothes, they still had the tears he'd made with his own spears and everything.

The Fallen Angel hit the ground hard, sporting some pretty nasty burns as she fell to her knees, snarling up at them as she snapped, hair frizzing wildly around her head and making her look like a wild beast, "Worthless coward! You don't even have the courage to face me after what you did, instead sending an air-headed bitch to fight your battle!" And that was definitely the wrong thing to say, as Candice's face darkened along with the sky, sparks of electricity swirling around her as she slowly and deliberately walked towards to now-nervous Fallen.

What followed was brutal and had Ichigo flinching. He felt like throwing up, only his pride and healthy dose of respect for Candice keeping him from giving into the urge.

Candice preened as she looked at her handiwork when she was done, smiling brightly as she turned back to Ichigo and said happily, "Now that the trash is taken care of, let's get going. It's getting late and walking through parks after dark is dangerous." As though she hadn't just laid waste to one of those 'dangers'. Without waiting for a response, she grabbed Ichigo's arm and proceeded to tow him the rest of the way through the park, leaving the smoldering ruin of Kalawarner behind them. He didn't _think_ the Fallen was dead, but he hadn't been able to get a good enough look to tell for certain.

He didn't even bother asking how Candice had summoned lightning; he'd honestly seen weirder things, and no way was someone distantly related to the Quincy and therefore Ishida Uryu going to be completely normal.

(He staunchly ignored the saying about glass houses and stones that came to mind right after he thought that.)

No, he was more concerned with what had happened to Kalawarner that she was blaming him for. He hadn't killed the guys in the church, so it couldn't be that, could it? Then again, how would she know he didn't? There must be a spell or something she could use if she didn't look too closely at the crime scene, but then again, chances were slim that she'd even bother if she immediately decided that he was the culprit. He was reasonably sure that she was the one who'd been following him all day though, so that was one mystery solved.

* * *

For lack of a better idea, after delivering Candice to her hotel room Ichigo just turned around and headed home, making sure to avoid the park where the fight - if it could even be called that - had taken place. He didn't know if the Fallen Angel was still there, but he didn't want to chance it.

He also savored the knowledge that he hadn't had to be the one to take down the one attacking him. It seemed that today was a day of new experiences, but he was kind of hoping that there wouldn't be any more surprises until he got some sleep. Akagyoushi's daily ambush didn't count as a surprise, since he just punched out the overgrown lizard and went to get ready for bed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I struggled a lot on whether or not to include this original arc, since I got a lot of flack for it over on ff. For lack of a better idea, I figure I'll let you guys decide: do you want to read a full original arc, or just have a summary of it in the next chapter before we get back to our regularly scheduled programming?

When he woke up the next day, he just knew that something was about to go wrong.

Why? Because when he was having breakfast he got a call from work saying that his shift was cancelled and he had the rest of the day free. On its own that didn't mean much, but after that, nothing went wrong. Breakfast went smoothly, and school was uneventful. That _never_ happened to him, not with no-strings-attached. Something _always_ happened whenever he had things that easy, usually something that involved blood, screaming and fighting. He had a _very_ bad feeling, and he just knew that it was going to get worse before it got better. Still, he was going to take advantage of the extra time while he could.

A quick stop at his apartment to change and grab some snacks later (along with a scuffle with his damned lizard, who was now _level 53_ , what the fuck?!), he was off towards his training spot. It was far enough away from the town that he could experiment with a few ideas, and his Valefor form would make sure that he didn't burn the forest down....he hoped. He took a moment to rap his knuckles against a tree, just in case that old superstition actually worked.

Just to be safe, he should probably save the Valefor training for last, he decided, reaching the clearing he'd claimed for training and raising an eyebrow when he saw the large puddles and only-slightly-smaller ice chunks. Wow, it really took this long for the ice to start melting? That was something he would have to watch out for, even if it meant he was less likely to set something on fire. The water and ice made the chance of any sparks catching on the grass unlikely, since the ground was pretty much standing water with random ice chunks sticking out. Pretty much the perfect environment for literally playing with fire.

Ichigo was getting better at looking on the bright side, though he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. He blamed the fact that no one had tried to seriously kill him yet...and he just jinxed himself, great. Another rap of the knuckles, because he was taking no chances.

Going over to one of the drier spots in the clearing, he set his bag down and began stretching, going through his moves to warm up. Who knew how long he had until that jinx took effect, so he might as well get as much training done as he could. There was something he'd been meaning to practice with since the thing with Tiamat, and knowing if he had access to any of his Devil skills while human would definitely be useful. Finding a small dry spot on a partially submerged log, he sat down and lifted a hand, staring intently at his palm as he focused on what he wanted.

_Pyrokinesis_ , he thought, concentrating on the word he'd seen on one of the windows that'd appeared after he'd avoided getting incinerated by Tiamat during their cat-and-mouse game. He remember heat and light and the instinctive knowledge that if he didn't move _fast_ he was going to get fried-! A flicker of light, of glitter hovering over his hand, and then a spark. That spark caught, and then there was fire. No bigger than a candlewick, the dancing flame swayed, randomly growing and shrinking as his focus wavered. One second it was a big as a teacup, the next smaller than the nail of his pinkie. Whenever he blinked, it got so small that it almost fizzled out, but a moment's thought had it back to candle-size.

Outwardly he was calm and attentive, but inwardly? His inner child was going nuts, giggling and dancing because ' _fire fire fire look look look!_ ' and yeah, he could definitely understand where his inner child was coming from. He could make his own fire to play with! How cool was that?! His stoic look cracked, a wide grin spreading across his face as he attempted to make the small flame float from one hand to the other. He managed to get it hovering, but moving it was a different matter. Eventually he was able to make the flame hover beneath his hands, the fire reduced to barely the size of a lit match, and his eyes narrowed, willing it to _grow_ \- whoa! Bad idea! He yelped, jerking his head back as the flame suddenly roared up. He hurriedly tried to cancel the skill, shaking his hands out and blinking rapidly, small wisps of steam rising around him as the water extinguished the embers.

The skin of his face felt tight, but some careful prodding assured him that he still had his eyebrows. He sighed in relief, because if ever there was a lucky break...

[ _Pyrokinesis_ has gained a level!]

And on that note, he was just going to stop there and do something else until his face stopped feeling quite so sunburned.

Shifting until he was sitting cross-legged as he took a classic meditating pose, he breathed deeply as he closed his eyes in concentration. Several years ago, during a quiet moment after he'd gotten his Soul Reaper powers, Rukia had mentioned that meditation was one of the first things a Soul Reaper learned.

It apparently allowed a Soul Reaper to go into their Inner World, not that Ichigo would know anything about that, seeing as Zangetsu had always pulled him into his whenever he wanted to. The last time they'd talked had been in the Dangai Precipice World while he'd trained to learn the Final Getsuga Tensho, and the last time he'd tried to go into his Inner World had been while his powers were still fading.

The silence as the buildings soundlessly crumbled into dust, the formerly pristine skyscrapers cracked and broken, even the one he'd stood upon, had been too much and he'd quickly left. He hadn't tried again. With his new powers though, possibilities and theories were whirling around in his head.

Calming his breathing, inhaling and exhaling in a slow rhythm, he slowly relaxed, muscles losing their tension as he turned his focus inward. His breath and heartbeat evened out, his awareness of his surroundings faded, the sounds of nature around him becoming muted as he sank into the darkness of his consciousness. All around him was blackness and silence as he sought out his Inner World, even as he didn't know which way was up or down. He just seemed to float in the center of the darkness...wait, there! Through the blackness, there were tiny pinpricks of light, four of them to be exact.

One was glowing a soft blue, barely visible, and the next was a deep red color that seemed to blaze against the shadows around it. The last was a reddish-gold, brighter than the blue but softer than the red light. The fourth...he couldn't make out what color it was, even as he reached his awareness towards the lights, the glow of them receding from him as he chased them. Frustration built, but Ichigo kept pursuing the lights, sure that if he caught one he would get to his Inner World...or maybe he hadn't gone deep enough into the blackness? That thought sent a shiver of apprehension through him, but he steeled himself and prepared to sink deeper...

_THWACK!_

Ichigo yelped in pain, his concentration shattered as his eyes shot open and he quickly found the cause of the sudden pain in the back of his head: a rock the size of an acorn. Loud chattering gave away the culprit, and he turned his head and glared at the group of squirrels in one of the trees behind him, his eyebrow twitching angrily.

([Active skill: _Meditation_ has been created!]

[Active skill: _Meditation_ has gained a level!])

Well, at least his efforts hadn't gone to waste. Although he could kind of understand why a bunch of tree-dwelling rodents would be ticked off at him, what with how he'd frequently come by to crash around the clearing and how a few minutes ago he'd been playing with literal fire, but now he was pretty annoyed that he would have to start meditating all over again. Was it worth moving for? Maybe the squirrels were satisfied with that bit of payback and would leave him alone now?

Another rock hitting his shoulder answered that. This time the squirrels were asking for it, he scowled.

With a bright flash of blue light he switched to his Devil form and used a small bit of Telekinesis to push the rodents off their perches and into another tree further back. Aside from some alarmed chattering and scrambling for a hold on the new tree's branches, the annoying little things were okay, so with a small huff he sat back down and closed his eyes, attempting to get back the state of calm he needed for meditation. As the sounds of the forest around him faded and again became indistinct, he felt himself sink down...down passed his consciousness...down to the point where he'd seen the lights the first time...and then even further downwards...towards a softly glowing light 'beneath' him...

_THUNK!_

Once again jolted out of his meditative state by a sharp pain in his head, his eyes snapped open and he scowled, growling under his breath as he batted away the window telling him his newest skill had leveled up. His attention was focused on the rodents chittering in a way distinctly laugh-like in a nearby tree.

Sending the annoying rodents flying with another - slightly harder - shove of Telekinesis, he took a deep, calming breath before closing his eyes again. He didn't even get to the four smaller lights before the rock hit him that time.

The cycle of Ichigo trying to meditate and the squirrels throwing rocks at him repeated seven more times, and by the time his newest skill had become level four he was at the end of his rope of patience. The eighth rock was the last straw, and he snarled as he snapped open his eyes once again, glaring venomously at the squirrels laughing victoriously at him. Those squirrels were going to be filler for dango when he was done with them, he mentally swore, and bared his teeth in a parody of a grin. Grabbing the tree-dwelling rodents with his Telekinesis was easy, and levitating them over to where he was while they squeaked and chattered in alarm was even easier. Holding them in a line at around chest height, there was a glint in his eyes that would have looked right at home in Urahara's. The squirrels were appropriately terrified.

While mostly level one, three of the rodents were level two and slightly bigger than the others. The rodents squirmed and frantically scrambled at empty air with their paws, not looking nearly so confident in the face of the now-Devil's glare as they had been a minute earlier.

Using his Telepathy on the bigger squirrels, his eyebrow twitch returned with a vengeance as the rodents called him 'Cherryhead' and basically repeated 'get away' over and over again along with promises of payback. Well, now he didn't feel guilty about what he was planning to try out on his new 'volunteers'. Yup, that look in his eyes definitely looked like it belonged more in Urahara's than it did in Ichigo's...

* * *

When it came down to it, Ichigo's biggest weakness had always been control.

He had always been hopeless at reining in his spiritual energy, unable to perform kido due to the control it required, as he'd discovered the few times he'd gotten curious and tried some of the spells he'd seen Rukia use. They had blown up in his face in a pretty spectacular manner, burning his hands slightly and covering his face in soot no matter what spell he used, but now he had the opportunity to learn the control he'd previously been lacking.

Progress had been made on controlling the amount of power that he used in his light spears, so now he was going to figure out how to do the same thing in his Devil form. And to do that he needed something to test his control on, hence the captured squirrels. It distantly occurred to him that he probably shouldn't be too quick to jump straight into animal testing, since if this experiment went the way his attempts with kido did it would get really, really messy. He didn't want to actually hurt them, but he considered it sufficient payback to terrify the rodents into thinking he was. He would just have to keep a close eye on his energy level and what it was doing. Those rocks had _hurt_ , damn it!

Rubbing his hands together, an evil chuckle escaped him as he approached the first squirrel, reaching out and resting one finger against the critter's furry side.

Ichigo carefully drew on his power, separating the smallest piece possible from the whole of it, the spiritual equivalent of half the size of the tip of a needle. It didn't so much trickle down his finger into the squirrel as it slowly floated like a speck of dust caught on a breeze, slowly and with many loop-de-loops on the way, but it eventually made it into the rodent.

At first nothing happened, except for the animal's struggles to get away from him increasing, its heart beating so fast that he could feel it beneath the pad of his finger. He frowned, wondering if the small amount of energy he'd channeled into the squirrel was upping its levels of adrenaline or if it was a natural fear response. He was leaning towards the latter, about to conclude that his energy hadn't done anything when the animal began squeaking rapidly, shaking so quickly that it looked like it was vibrating.

[Active skill: _Empower_ has been created!]

A second later, and the squirrel started swelling rapidly, ballooning outwards and growing faster than Ichigo would have thought possible. Rapid cracking noises filled the clearing as bones shifted and changed, squeaks turning into snarls as the cracking became crunching until finally, the noise stopped. Considering the result of the transformation, however, that wasn't particularly reassuring...

The formerly small mammal was the size of a large dog within a minute, its fur now a bristly, shaggy coat. All four paws now sporting needle-sharp claws and its teeth had changed into fangs that would give a wolf's a run for its money. Its eyes were a bright amber color that seemed to glow almost beautifully when the light hit them. The look in those eyes, on the other hand, was pretty much the opposite of beautiful.

Ichigo blinked, then prudently stepped back as a bit of the mutated squirrel's drool hit the ground and _sizzled_. A quick glance above the beast's head informed him that the change was more than just cosmetic.

[Demon Squirrel, Level 17]

He was a bit uncertain about whether to try it with the other squirrels or not, seeing the change that had happened to the first one...but then sighed and decided what the hell, in for a penny, in for a pound.

With the second one he was a bit more cautious, however, starting with the same amount of power as last time and then cutting it in half before sending the reduced amount into the squirrel. It took even longer than the first time to take effect, almost three minutes in fact, but just as he was starting to relax the floating squirrel stiffened. It looked like a statue, beady eyes widened in surprise and tail stiffened, and then it started growing. Unlike the bloating growth of the first squirrel, the second was more like the animal turned into wax and reshaped itself.

The result was a beast half the size of the first demon squirrel - which was still drooling and now had a blackened patch of ground beneath it - and arguably a less intimidating one...if you weren't paying attention to the fur on the tail, which had stiffened and hardened into spikes not unlike a porcupine's quills. Thankfully the tail and size were the only things that seemed to have changed (a quick glance revealed that the animal's level had shot up to eleven).

Morbid curiosity compelled him to keep trying, each time trying to lower the amount of energy he was channeling into the animals, but the results were still... _mixed_ , to put it politely. He was really starting to feel like Urahara, which he supposed was better than Kurotsuchi, but at the same time he had the sinking feeling he was toeing a fine line.

Six of the ten squirrels were like the second attempt, only growing a little bigger and having one part of their bodies change (most often the tail, but that one squirrel with the piranha teeth made him a bit wary). The levels increased by ten on those rodents, but the other ones, the level two and three squirrels, those made him think seriously about just running away screaming. It would probably increase his life expectancy.

...Then again, since when had he paid attention to that? He was lucky he'd lived as long as he had, considering all the time he spent in the world of the dead.

The level two squirrels remaining shot up to the same size as the first one, though one of them now had spikes growing out of its back and the other was _breathing fire, what the fuck?_ That warranted staring, which he did, watching as embers spilled out of the demon squirrel's mouth and fizzled into steam when they hit the water beneath it. There was clearly no rhyme or reason to how the squirrels changed when he used Empower, and he was honestly kind of hesitant to use it on the two level three squirrels.

Ichigo had been using the least amount of energy he could on all of them after the first one, he swore, but the last level two squirrels had shot up twenty levels. His brain hurt trying to figure out the math, so he just didn't even bother. It was clearly random.

Cautiously paring down his energy to the smallest bit he could, and then cutting that in half, he sent the tiny speck of energy into the second to last squirrel. The result was...actually sort of expected, especially when the animal puffed up, ballooning much like the first one and growing claws, fangs, porcupine-like quills on its back, and a whip-like tail. It was a bit bigger than the first one, actually, and he did not think the way it was hissing was a good thing. He hadn't even known that squirrels could hiss!

The last one he gave his best effort, cutting down the sent energy to almost nothing, something smaller than the particles of energy that infuse the air in Hueco Mundo, but he quickly saw that it didn't help in the slightest. It was more than double the size of the first one, and he was having to actively concentrate on his Telekinesis in order to hold all of the animals now, especially since the huge one started trying to thrash around as soon as it was done transforming.

[Demon Squirrel Boss, Level 31]

Along with being huge, his final try could shoot lasers out of its eyes - all six of them. He wished he was joking. On a related note, his Empower level had gone up to three.

Unfortunately, that's when all hell broke loose, the first squirrel breaking free of his hold while he was distracted, setting off a chain reaction. The mutated mammals made a break for it, scattering and leaving Ichigo standing there and wondering what the fuck he'd gotten himself into.

His Devil form timed out a minute later, and he groaned.

How the hell was he supposed to round up those squirrels now?


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...You know, I hate to say this, but I think I'm getting burned out on this story. I haven't been able to bring myself to write more than two sentences on the first version of this story in weeks. :( I finished this chapter as a Halloween present to all my readers (you guys are amazing!), but I think I'm going to be taking a break to work on a new drabble. Hopefully that'll recharge the batteries, so to speak. :)

[Quest accepted: Combat/retrieval-type. Read more?]

[Quest details: Capture or defeat the ten demon squirrels you created. No time limit. Quest rewards: 3000xp, random items]

Ichigo looked at the glowing blue screen in front of him, already feeling done with this day as he groaned, because what else could he do? He couldn't just leave the squirrels to run wild and potentially hurt someone. Getting rewarded for doing something he was going to do anyway was nice, but the item bit in the reward bit kind of made him a tad suspicious, however, since it _was_ pretty vague. He had an instinctive distrust of vague rewards, one that served him well most of the time, but now wasn't the time to think about that, he decided. He had some mutated squirrels to track down.

Luckily for him, the squirrels hadn't bothered to be sneaky when running away, and most of them left pretty clear trails in the form of crushed bushes and tracks on the ground. He followed the trail, noting that the animals had stuck together for several yards before some of them broke off from the pack, leaving smaller trails off to the sides, and he had to pause for a moment to examine the tracks. Should he continue following the larger trail, or go after one of the lone squirrels? The decision was taken out of his hands by a fast-moving blur lunging out of the bushes and trying to knock him off of his feet.

He jumped back in time to avoid losing a leg, but not fast enough to escape having the knee of his pants torn out. The blur slowed briefly to change direction, and the shape of it resolved into the shape of a doberman-sized squirrel with sleek brown fur struck through with bright pink stripes before it sped off, turning into a streak of color zigzagging across his field of vision. The teenager ducked and ran, taking advantage of the trees to shield himself from the colorful mammal's strafing attacks, even as the terrain worked against him. The squirrel was able to rebound off the trunks to quickly change direction, turning it into a battle of who moved faster, the squirrel to attack or Ichigo to get behind the trees.

It was more or less even by the time he lured the squirrel back to the clearing, his retreating foot slipping in the mud and flying out from under him. He landed hard on his back in the cold puddle, the impact sending up a spray of water as the squirrel went flying over his head. He seized the opportunity while he had it, drawing up his legs and kicking straight up into the rodent's stomach, knocking the breath out of it and sending it flying. He flipped back to his feet, gaping as the animal did a mid-air flip and landed on top of a chunk of ice about nine feet away.

What the fuck? Ichigo didn't have time to stare in disbelief because the squirrel made use of its increased speed, pushing off its chilly perch and charging forward to lunge at Ichigo's throat, which was  _so_ not happening! Jumping to the side and punching out to hit the flying rodent in the side, he swore loudly when the acrobatic mammal pulled another twist and landed on all fours in water halfway up its legs. " _Fucking hell!_ "

Retreating to drier ground was a risk, but it was one he had to take. He was being slowed down by the water a lot more than the squirrel was, and he couldn't take the chance that his next slip wouldn't turn out a lot worse than his first one. Damnit, he clenched his teeth and braced himself to dive away as he saw the squirrel tense to jump, he needed help-

Akagyoushi appeared and body-slammed the squirrel so hard the ground shook before he could finish the thought. The reptile backed off to reveal a small crater, the pancaked rodent inside letting out a pained-sounding wheeze.

Ouch, Ichigo winced, feeling the tiniest bit of sympathy for the flattened critter...but not enough that he didn't take advantage of Akagyoushi putting the squirrel down for the count. He didn't know if he could put living things in his inventory, but this seemed as good a time as any to find out. Opening the inventory window, he walked over and pried the squirrel out of the crater its body had made, immediately shoving it through the screen that followed him over after freeing it from the ground. There was a tense moment where he held his breath, fearing that it wouldn't work and he'd have to figure out some other way to keep the defeated squirrels contained, but then the window flickered and a cartoonish picture of the squirrel appeared in one of the empty squares. It had worked! Success! He breathed a sigh of relief and closed the inventory, incredibly glad that that had worked.

He looked at Akagyoushi and nodded, firmly patting the giant lizard's neck as he said, "Thanks for the help," and meant it. The basilisk earned some thanks for saving him a lot of trouble, and more than earned the right to look pleased with himself like he was doing now. He had to admit, seeing Akagyoushi someplace other than his apartment was bizarre. He wasn't going to complain though, and after a few more pats, he stepped away and gave himself a once-over for any injuries. Aside from the holes in the knee of his pants, there was a small cut on one of his calves, more of a paper-cut than an actual wound, but it was still annoying. Now that he was aware of it, he could feel it stinging, and he scowled at the thin line of red.

That was his only injury aside from the requisite bruises from his many stumbles, so all in all he came out of that tussle in pretty good condition if he did say so himself. The biggest damage was probably to his pride, he thought wryly, because super-powered or not, he'd been fighting a  _squirrel_. And  _losing_. Farewell, dignity, it was nice knowing you.

Akagyoushi preened, growling lowly and not seeming at all perturbed about his defeated opponent vanishing into thin air. He did, however, seem interested in sniffing curiously at some of the ice blocks scattered around, curiously tapping them with a claw and, after a moment's thought, smacking one with his tail. The ice block just sat there, and all six of Akagyoushi's eyes narrowed before the lizard did something that most anyone could have told him was a bad idea: he licked the ice block. Ichigo stood there for a moment, absorbing the fact that yes, the reptile had just done that, before he lost it. Cackling wildly, the teenager fell over, rolling around from the force of his hilarity as Akagyoushi struggled to detach his tongue from its frozen captor.

By the time they detached the basilisk's tongue from the ice block (including one failed attempt that resulted in his pyrokinesis and heat resistance gaining a few levels), Ichigo's ribs were hurting from laughing so hard and Akagyoushi just looked embarrassed.

* * *

By unspoken agreement, the two of them headed back towards town, following the signs that the squirrels had  _definitely_ passed through there. The partially melted car was a good sign they were on the right track, Ichigo figured, and Akagyoushi concurred, going by the low growl rumbling in the big lizard's throat. They followed the most obvious trail of destruction, namely the bushes that had been turned into impromptu torches and bent streetlamps, and were rewarded by two squirrels lunging at them from opposite sides. Ichigo stepped back, axe-kicking the thing and knocking it out, then tossing it into his inventory. He did the same with the one that had jumped at Akagyoushi and promptly been knocked for a loop by a tail-smack.

Three down, seven to go. Hopefully a few more of them would be that stupid, but he wouldn't bet on it. He inwardly lamented the curiosity that had driven him to pull an Urahara, because damn it he _knew_ Urahara, he should know better than to do anything that he could picture Sandal-Hat doing! At least now that he knew he could store the squirrels in his inventory containing them wouldn't be a problem, but that still left the matter of catching them.

He wasn't ashamed to admit that he was glad Akagyoushi had showed up; not only had he needed the help with the first squirrel, but if the remaining squirrels had spread out like he thought they had he was going to need all the help he could get to corral them. He winced as he and Akagyoushi passed a merrily burning bicycle and the accompanying melted patch of sidewalk, feeling slightly guilty even as he knew that there was no way he could have predicted one of the squirrels apparently developing fire-powers. "We can't afford to rush in blindly," he muttered, half to himself and half to the lizard, "we need to save our energy for when the fight starts."

[Passive skill: _Strategic Planning_ has gained a level!]

Okay, that was just insulting.

It was as they were passing by a small park that they heard a short, angry scream, and the pair didn't miss a step as they changed direction and sprinted towards the source of the sound. They'd barely taken two steps when the bolt of lightning shot down from the clear sky, striking  _something_. That was either very good or very bad. When they got within sight of where the lightning had struck, the first thing Ichigo saw was the long green hair of Candice, and the first thing he heard was some rather creative swearing coming from the woman's mouth, all of it aimed at the demon squirrel facing her. It looked ridiculous, smoke curling up from its frizzed out fur.

The humor of the situation was tempered somewhat by the sight of two kids cowering behind Candice, who had green lightning crackling between her hands as she glared at the beast. Ichigo was fully prepared to jump in, Akagyoushi tensing beside him as the basilisk prepared to do the same, only it turned out to not be necessary. Candice told the kids to run back to their homes, and the rugrats jumped to obey, rapidly retreating from the confrontation as Candice chanted her spell and zapped the squirrel again. This bolt was noticeably larger than the first one, and when the flash-blindness faded, Akagyoushi and he were treated to the sight of a charred-black squirrel collapsed on the ground, one leg twitching sporadically.

Both of them very suitably impressed.

The green-haired woman dusted off her hands, snorting contemptuously as she turned her back on the downed squirrel. Her eyes landed on Ichigo first and promptly lit up, a smile blooming on her face as she started over to him, only to freeze mid-step when she registered the presence of the very large reptile standing next to the orange-haired teen. While Candice gaped, Ichigo took the chance to slip over to the defeated rodent and shove it into his inventory with the others. Returning to his previous position, he coughed, rubbing the back of his head uncomfortably as Candice's gaze snapped back to him. "Okay, so I know this is kind of sudden but...meet Akagyoushi. He's my pet lizard." He added.

Seeing Candice standing there with her mouth open, shocked but not scared, Ichigo was both relieved and curious. After all, wasn't the natural reaction to a giant six-eyed lizard to scream, run away, or in his and Candice's case, attack? A glance to the side revealed that the lizard in question had all but two of his eyes closed. A smart idea, since with the extra eyes closed he looked more like a regular lizard, just super-sized.

Candice looked at the giant lizard standing placidly next to Ichigo doing his best to look as harmless as a red-eyed lizard the size of two horses put together possibly could. Shutting her mouth with a click, she carefully looked over the reptile, taking in the black and red scales, the golden claws and horns, the glowing red eyes. "I don't think lizards are supposed to get that big," she muttered, then decided to just roll with it. She'd just been fighting a monster squirrel after all, and Akagyoushi seemed friendly enough, stretching his head forward to sniff at her palm when she offered it. She still felt uneasy looking at Akagyoushi's eyes though; she didn't know why, but for some reason whenever she stared at the glowing orbs, she started feeling lightheaded.

"So, what was that thing I fried?" She asked, absently patting Akagyoushi's snout, "I was taking a short-cut through this park when I saw that monster try to attack those two kids, and I jumped in so it wouldn't hurt them," she scowled, which was both understandable and pretty intimidating with her hair crackling with unspent electricity. Akagyoushi didn't seem to care, but Ichigo wisely stayed back enough that he wouldn't accidentally get shocked.

"Demon squirrel." He didn't see the point in beating around the bush.

Silence.

Ichigo sighed, "Look, I know how ridiculous it sounds. To make a long story short, I need to catch these things before they cause any more damage." Akagyoushi snorted, "Sorry, _we_ need to catch these things."

Candice frowned, now starting to look concerned. "How many of these monster squirrels are there?"

"Ten. We've already rounded up four including the one you took down, so that just leaves six to go." Ichigo answered, relieved that she wasn't immediately calling him a liar.

She pursed her lips, eyes narrowing thoughtfully before nodding decisively, finally taking her hand away from Akagyoushi's nose, much to the big lizard's displeasure. "Sounds like you need all the help you can get, then. If any of those things are half as aggressive as the one I took down, they could cause a lot of damage by the time you chase them down one at a time. Normally I'd suggest splitting up, but I wouldn't know what to look for, and it's best to get them rounded up as quickly as possible." Ichigo opened his mouth to protest, only to close it when she shot him a stern look. "I'm coming with you," she declared.

There really wasn't anything he could say about that aside from, "Thanks." He  _did_ need to help, and Akagyoushi wasn't protesting. Looks like the vote was unanimous.

An idea occurred to him, and he jerked a thumb in the direction of his apartment and said, "Let's stop by my place before we head off, I have some things that might help us out." He'd already proved that levels were barely rough guidelines after all, and he had no problem whatsoever with stacking the deck in their favor.

Time to dust off his loot from Valefor Castle and put some of it to use.

* * *

The trip to his place was more or less peaceful, the less part being the few minutes they were waylaid that a particularly stupid squirrel jumping out of an alley right into Candice's electrified fist. The battle, if it could be called that, was a short one, and Ichigo discreetly stowed the puffy, twitching beast in his inventory when Candice turned away in a huff.

He also made a mental note _not_ to piss her off if he could help it. Those lightning strikes looked like they hurt, and he shuddered at the thought of getting hit with one as they arrived at his apartment and went inside.

Making a beeline for the closet, the orange-haired teen picked through the box full of jewelry he'd taken from his inventory, searching for a specific one that he knew he'd seen. A few minutes of sifting through the lot and he found it: the Bracelet of the Storm. The slim silver bracelet set with bright green and amber gems increased the power of lightning and electricity-based spells and abilities, and if that didn't scream Candice he didn't know what did. He also grabbed a few other things, some quick glances at their descriptions letting him know that If nothing else they would come in handy in a fight.

Putting the box back in the closet and heading back to the living room where he'd left Akagyoushi and Candice, he found the green-haired woman curiously examining the gouges in the walls he hadn't gotten around to fixing yet. The lizard didn't even have the grace to look ashamed when they both looked from him to the wall. When Candice looked at Ichigo, he sighed and said tiredly, "You don't want to know." Candice looked sympathetic for all of a second before her eyes landed on the bracelet in his hand and promptly lit up.

Ichigo grinned a bit as he held it out to her and explained, "From what I can figure out, if you wear this your lightning attacks will be stronger, so I thought that it would come in handy since some of the demon squirrels are pretty tough." He'd barely finished speaking before Candice snatched the bracelet and promptly fastened it around her wrist.

"Your _Candice Catnipp_ bond has gained a level!"

Oh look, the Voice was back.

[Candice Catnipp has joined your party as an active-combat/defense type! You can now request to fight alongside Candice Catnipp for an indefinite length of time.]

And there was the accompanying window. Hadn't seen that one in awhile.

Huh, he could have sworn he saw the jewelry sparkle just a bit brighter. Shaking his head and firmly telling himself it was not the time for the game mechanics of his life to start tossing new things at him, he added, "I also got a few other things here," as he moved around, distributing various shiny accessories to Candice and Akagyoushi, stopping to help the basilisk put on the jewelry Ichigo had picked out for him. The earring was especially tricky, but they eventually managed to clip it onto a scale and make sure it would stay in place through Akagyoushi moving around. The lizard didn't seem to mind the small snag, appearing pleased with his new attire of bracelets, anklets and necklaces. They went nicely with his scales, Ichigo noted, and he swore that he hadn't been thinking about that when he picked them out, honest!

"Okay, let's head out and take care of the rodent problem," Candice declared when they were all situated, proudly admiring her matching bracelet and necklace. She also had a small ring on her pinkie that Ichigo had grabbed as a just-in-case thing. From what he'd seen of it's description, despite its plain appearance it had a pretty damn good ability.

Ichigo and Akagyoushi exchanged wary looks. Neither of them liked the suddenly eager look on Candice's face, but only Ichigo knew it was because it resembled, disturbingly enough, Kenpachi's battle-hungry grin.

* * *

"So, why did we have to go to the post office?"

Ichigo glanced over at his companions as Candice spoke, raising an eyebrow at her and Akagyoushi's curious expressions before he answered, "I figured since we were heading out anyway I might as well mail some stuff to my sisters while we looked for the squirrels, get it out of the way and everything." He'd remembered the box of stuff he'd decided to send to his sisters (and if most of the stuff had protective enchantments on it, well that was his business) on the way out the door and had gone back for it, figuring he could swing by the post office and mail it before things got crazy again.

Since for some reason the squirrels' trail of destruction had ended and the rodents had made themselves scarce, they'd had the time. Considering the smallest was the size of a dog, this was a remarkable feat. So he was able to drop off the package to be mailed and be in and out in minutes, and then they were reduced to walking around town and hoping another one got cocky enough to attack them.

"What stuff did you send them?" Candice asked.

"Some jewelry I found, and a couple of dresses." Was the nonchalant reply.

The green-haired woman hummed thoughtfully before she smiled and said, "That's sweet of you, I bet your sisters will love it,"

She was surprised when Ichigo suddenly snorted with laughter, though the surprise cleared when he explained, "Yuzu will, no doubt about it, but Karin will be cursing my name. She's a tomboy and hates girly stuff, but since everyone opens their mail at the same time, she won't be able to throw anything away because dad and Yuzu will have seen it and be on the lookout. I would have sent make-up if I'd been able to find any, but the jewelry and stuff works too." He shrugged, smirking mischievously. He'd get an earful the next time he called, but it was  _so_ worth it.

Candice giggled, Akagyoushi rumbling in amusement next to her, enjoying the chance to see this new side of Ichigo that wasn't afraid to tease his sisters. It was good to know that he could playful on occasion, though she refused to think too deeply about why she felt that way. Instead she turned her attention back in the direction they were walking, sneaking looks at Ichigo from the corner of her eye as she asked him general questions about his sisters. His family sounded fun, if a bit weird if even half of what he said about his dad was true.

It was a nice day, and if it weren't for the fact that they were trying to track down a pack of demonic squirrels before anyone got hurt and were accompanied by Ichigo's giant pet lizard, she could have almost fooled herself into thinking they were on a date. But alas, reality prevailed and so she kept her eyes open for anything unusual even as she and Ichigo chatted, said lizard plodding along behind them. Akagyoushi didn't add much to the conversation, but that didn't mean they left him out - he was frequently their tie-breaker when they started arguing about whether this or that show or food or music was better. Ichigo was currently in the lead and looking smug about it, and Candice accused him of bribing the judge. Akagyoushi and Ichigo both grinned, shamelessly admitting it.

Then they turned a corner and were treated to the sight of a dog-sized squirrel perched on top of a car, firing sharp spikes from its tail at anything that moved and howling fiercely. Candice hadn't known that squirrels _could_ howl, but then, this wasn't a normal squirrel, so it was probably the demonic part that let it make that sound. Her eyes narrowed as her heart began to pound in anticipation. She had never had the chance to test herself against an actual devil, and though the squirrel wasn't an actual devil, it was close enough that she was certainly looking forward to the fight. Not to mention that she was eager to see how much stronger the bracelet that Ichigo had given her made her lightning attacks - even now when she wasn't calling on her power she could feel it running through her.

As they approached, the squirrel took notice of them and snarled, bearing an impressive set of fangs and raising its spiked tail in an unmistakable threat.

Candice smiled viciously, flexing her fingers as sparks began crackling around her, and she was pleased to see Ichigo glance at her before turning his gaze back to the beast perched on the car, shifting into a ready stance. on his other side, Akagyoushi also tensed up, lashing his own tail and baring his fangs. Obviously the two of them trusted her to take care of herself, and that made her smile more widely as the sparks transformed into small arcs of electricity. That squirrel was getting _roasted_ , she swore.

She never considered that the pair's movements were because they were preparing to get out of her way, because some women were terrifying. They were kind and gentle one minute, horrific monsters the next when they stepped onto the battlefield. He had a great deal of experience with those kinds of females, and more power or not, you did not get in their way when it came to a fight, for that way lay a great deal of pain...and a trip to the nearest hospital. He would have felt sorry for the squirrel if it wasn't preparing to try and maim them and he wasn't still ticked off at the creatures.

Time seemed to freeze as the squirrel glared at them, and...was that a guitar solo he was hearing? His eyes widened as he realized that the fast riff was coming from nowhere, and a horrified look crossed his face as he realized that it was _battle music_. What the _fuck_. There was fighting music now?!

While Ichigo was reeling from this new and unpleasant development, the monster squirrel seized the opportunity to attack, rearing up and then slamming its front paws back down as it whipped its tail up and launched a volley of spikes at them. Ichigo manages to avoid being skewered, but not by much, the ones aimed at Akagyoushi simply bouncing off his scales, and Candice hurled lightning bolts at the spikes shooting towards her to knock them out of the air. Her aim was amazing since she actually succeeded, the spikes burying themselves in the road still crackling with electricity, and a small part of Ichigo's brain piped up to reiterate that she was freaking terrifying. Really, she fit right in with pretty much all the women he knew.

He decided to let Candice deal with the demon squirrel on her own while he processed this...unusual (and unhelpful) addition to the roster of game-like additions to his life. The music had faded slightly and become background noise, which didn't make it any less distracting but at least now he could hear other things beside a loud guitar solo blasting in his ears.

At least the music synced up with Candice's movements nicely, he thought dazedly, and she certainly seemed to be having fun, which was more than could be said for him and the now slightly-crispy squirrel.

Scattered bolts of lightning crackled and lashed, racing forward like striking snakes to send the creature crashing to the ground in a snarling heap. The smell of singed hair lingered in the air, stinging noses and causing the demonic rodent to scream in anger as its fur blackened and curled under the heat. The green-haired woman practically danced around the squirrel, unknowingly moving along to the music only Ichigo could hear and laughing in delight as she zapped the rodent into submission, soft 'booms' of thunder accompanying the bright bolts of electricity.

Standing over her defeated foe, Candice cackled maniacally, the music only he could hear fading out with battle only able to be described as finished, the lightning-wielding woman unquestionably the winner. Ichigo and Akagyoushi watched from the side, eyes comically wide as they watched Candice bounce around in celebration, which did interesting things to her chest, though they snapped out of it after a moment. As good as it was to get an idea of how Candice fought so they didn't trip over each other, it was also pretty unnerving to see. She was a _lot_ like Kenpachi post-battle, and wasn't that a scary thought?

Ichigo snatched up the squirrel and tossed it into his inventory when she turned her back, closing the menu and chuckling at her dance moves, Akagyoushi making soft, clicking sounds of amusement right alongside him.

Candice finished another victory twirl, opening her eyes that she'd closed during the spin as she struck a pose, thrusting out a hand making a victory sign. When she saw her companions standing in front of her looking amused, however, her face promptly turned red and she tripped over thin air, an achievement since she had been standing still. Ichigo choked back his urge to laugh in favor of steadying her, but he couldn't stop the corners of his lips from lifting in mirth as he watched her dust herself off nonchalantly, the unconcerned image somewhat ruined by her tomato-red face.

Coughing lightly into her fist, Candice turned and began walking in a random direction, declaring, "What are we waiting for, let's get moving! The demon squirrels wait for no one!"

Ichigo didn't argue, even if for all he knew the squirrels might actually be waiting for them to find them, snickering under his breath as he followed Candice, Akagyoushi plodding along behind him.

* * *

As it turned out, the next squirrel they found wasn't so much waiting for them as busily electrocuting various cars and ignoring the attacks bouncing off its fur, thrown by the Kuoh Student Council.

Ichigo blinked, because that was a new one. Of course he'd known the Student Council members weren't human, but he hadn't expected to see Sona Sitri tossing around water blasts like confetti or Tomoe attacking with - was that a _katana_? Unexpected, but honestly not the weirdest thing he'd seen that day, or even that hour. She was actually pretty good at using it, he noted as he watched her execute a spinning slash that against probably any other target would have left it bleeding heavily.

The squirrel didn't even blink as the sword bounced harmlessly off its pelt, snorting and tearing trenches into the concrete as it shocked a few potted plants, setting them on fire in the process.

Contrary to how the demon squirrels acted towards him, Akagyoushi and Candice, the student council didn't seem to exist as far as this one was concerned. It was like their attacks weren't even registering, even though Ichigo clearly saw this weird rope-thing extend from a gauntlet on Saji's hand and wrap around the squirrel's tail. Whatever it was supposed to do apparently didn't happen, judging by Sona's frown and Saji's virulent cursing as the line retracted. Kusaka Reya threw what looked like a _twister_ at the squirrel, and the girl let out a short shriek of dismay as her attack proved no more effective than Saji and Tomoe's had.

Even the combined force of Kusaka and Hanakai throwing spells didn't manage to make the squirrel do so much as blink. It lumbered over to a bench and set about ripping it to shreds, but that was about all it did, oddly placid except for the property damage.

The trio all blinked in confusion, all of Akagyoushi's eyes opening for a moment before closing again, standing at the end of the street and watching the teenage devils throw everything they had at the unmoved squirrel.

("Shouldn't we help them?" Ichigo wondered.

Candice shrugged, "Probably, yeah." She agreed.

Akagyoushi grunted.

None of them moved.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Candice pulling out her phone and recording the fruitless efforts of Sona and her group with a wickedly gleeful look on her face.)

They watched the almost comedic fight for about ten minutes before Candice stopped filming, her lips turned up in a satisfied smile as she tucked her phone away. Seeing the sparks beginning to crackle around her hands, Ichigo guessed that now was the time to jump in, which he did with a long sigh, he and Akagyoushi beginning to walk towards the strangely calm squirrel with Candice beside him.

"Your _Candice Catnipp_ bond has gained a level!"

Okay, the voice he could deal with, but the battle music? No way in hell. Ichigo staunchly ignored the faint music only he could hear as it gradually grew louder, the tempo increasing the closer they got to the squirrel until both it and the Student Council noticed their approach.

The devils backed off, but squirrel reacted like it had been electrocuted (even though Candice hadn't thrown a single bolt yet). Its eyes narrowed, fur raised threateningly, and a low, rumbling snarl started in its' chest, vibrating out until it sounded like someone revving an eighteen-wheeler's engine and matched in volume by Akagyoushi's returning snarl. The ground trembled up to twelve feet around the squirrel with the force of its growling, and it crouched in preparation to attack just as the battle music hit the crescendo.

The demonized mammal lunged, and the battle was on.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone! *Is dressed in pirate clothes and waving a cutlass* Cold weather killing my motivation to write? Frack that! :D As a present to all of my readers, for a limited amount of time I am going to accept story commissions! If any of you are interested, drop a review and we can work something out. Only 5 slots available, so it's first come, first served! ^.^

Barely three minutes into the fight, if it could even be called that, and Ichigo was swearing that come hell or high water, he  _would_ find a way to turn the battle music off if it was the last thing he did!

The reasoning behind his sudden fervor? The music was still playing and somehow the battle was  _following the rhythm_. No. He refused to allow that to be something that happened more than once. Fight nothing, this whole thing was a fiasco! Candice and the squirrel's lightning bolts kept missing and hitting various parked cars, causing them to explode at the same moment as a screaming guitar solo only he could hear began, and he felt several veins in his forehead throb. Yeah, he was so done with this that it wasn't even funny anymore, and suiting action to thought, he stepped away from the battle to lean against one of the few intact cars along the street.

Come to think of it, where were all these parked cars coming from? Ichigo wondered, looking curiously at the balls of fiery death that were once working vehicles. He was pretty sure that very few people in this part of Kuoh actually drove, and oh no, please don't let it be more weird game stuff, he prayed. The revelation of the battle music was all he could stand for the day, and mysteriously spawning background cars was pushing it! A twitch formed under his left eye as he avoided a charge from the electrified squirrel (Candice let out a shriek of rage when she realized that the squirrel used electricity too and was thus resistant to her power), and he channeled his anger constructively by landing a hard kick to its flank when it passed him.

It was sent flying back towards Akagyoushi, who roared gleefully and pounced on the projectile rodent. That was pretty much his contribution to the battle, and he savored the fact that Candice and Akagyoushi had things well in hand, Candice utilizing indirect attacks to send dust and debris flying at the squirrel's face to distract it while Akagyoushi put his claws and fangs to good use. For some reason the monster critter wasn't looking into the lizard's eyes, which actually seemed to handicap it even more as it tried to deal with both opponents at once. The teamwork was very impressive, especially considering that the two of them had never fought together before, enabling him to lean back and relax...and try to figure out if he could control the battle music from his menu screen. The short answer was no, no he could not.

He massaged the bridge of his nose with two fingers, stifling a despairing groan as he repeatedly lifted his head from the cool metal of the car only to let it drop back with a light thump. Good thing it was some kind of van, otherwise he would have had to move over to a building in order to do that.

A lightning strike from his green-haired comrade caught his attention, pulling his eyes over to where the woman and demon lizard were literally running circles around the squirrel, their hit-and-run tactics surprisingly effective. They were steadily wearing down the monster rodent, seamlessly flowing around each other to pummel the dazed animal from multiple angles. Unfortunately, midway through Akagyoushi lunging forward to tackle the squirrel to the ground, the Student Council overcame their shock and decided to try to 'help', and he used that word with all due sarcasm.

Picking up a rock and chucking it at Nimura Ruruko when the girl nearly took Candice's head off with a kick, the pebble struck true and sent Nimura flying right into Kusaka Reya and Vice-President Shinra.

("Your _Candice Catnipp_ bond has gained a level!")

...Yeah, he kind of saw that coming, Ichigo admitted, throwing himself into a forward roll to avoid a fire hydrant-level blast of water that Sona sent at him in retaliation. Luckily for him she was only able to take the one shot since the water attracted the squirrel's attention, enticing it to pounce towards this new prey, static crackling in the wake of its jump and making his hair stand on end. He stood up in time to see Shinra conjure a  _mirror_ and  _somehow_ send the squirrel flying in the opposite direction. Straight towards Akagyoushi, who showed his pleasure at this state of affairs by tail-slamming the ballistic rodent into the concrete. Repeatedly.

The battle ended pretty quickly after the basilisk got the squirrel pinned down, the student council members milling about uncertainly as Akagyoushi beat the demonic critter into unconsciousness. When the giant lizard turned his attention to Sona and her group, still keeping the majority of his eyes shut, Ichigo took advantage of the distraction to run in and shove the defeated squirrel into his inventory. Now to deal with the peanut gallery, he thought with a sigh, because he had a plan for that that would probably land him so much detention when he went back to school, but fuck it, it was the only thing he could think of.

Seeing Sona drawing herself up as she prepared to speak, Ichigo cut her off before she could begin, "Welp, it's been fun, thanks for nothing, we have to be going now." He said bluntly, grabbing Candice by the arm and taking off at a dead run. To both her and Akagyoushi's credit, they needed no prompting to follow him, Candice getting her feet under her and easily keeping pace. A chorus of shouting erupted behind them as they turned a corner, pelting full speed ahead and weaving through alleys and side-streets to evade pursuit. Akagyoushi having to do whatever it was he did to squeeze through tight spaces in order to fit through some of the openings without breaking anything until they finally lost their pursuers. Staggering to a stop on a deserted side-street, Ichigo waited for his heart to slow down, warily eyeing the sky just in case as his companions also caught their breath. Devils had wings, he remembered, and Sona seemed like the type to remember the benefits of aerial searches so he was taking no chances.

Once Candice got her breath back, she immediately lost it again, cracking up laughing and just barely staying on her feet as she cackled, "Did you see the looks on their faces? That was hilarious!" Akagyoushi chuffed beside her, the lizard's version of laughter coming from his throat and his tail waving merrily. Ichigo kept a straight face for the five minutes needed to make sure that they were alone and then? Then he  _lost it_ , his mad laughter joining Candice's and sounding more like a Hollow shrieking than any expression of mirth. He had to admit, that was pretty fun, and the look on Sona's fast reminded him so much of Rukia's back when they first met and she was constantly baffled by the human world that he couldn't resist the urge to laugh.

Thoughts of Rukia as he'd last seen her hurt, it was true, but the memories of the good old days at the very beginning brought a nostalgic smile to his face. Even if the ending was bad, he could still treasure the good times, he reflected, smiling in a mix of joy and relief as he looked at his two companions. Candice looked like she was about to fall over, arms crossed over her belly in an attempt to hold herself together and Akagyoushi looking none too steady on his feet right next to her.

It took almost five minutes for their laughing fits to fade, and when the laughter died out it left the trio with aching ribs and lungs desperately working to pull in more air. Hah, he needed that, he admitted, smiling as he straightened up and took a deep breath, holding it in for a moment before exhaling, shoulders slumping as his stress flowed out with the air. Laughter was the best medicine, he decided, and he was never, _ever_ , telling Keigo that. Some things were better left unsaid.

"Right! That's enough of that, time to get down to business!" Ichigo clapped his hands, drawing Candice and Akagyoushi's attention. "Counting that last squirrel, that's eight down, only two more squirrels to go, right?"

"Really? I thought there were three left?" Candice frowned in confusion.

Akagyoushi chuffed. He too had thought there were three more.

"...Yeah, so apparently we all lost count at some point." Ichigo sighed, then shrugged, "I'm sure we'll figure it out sooner or later, so let's just get moving."

Now fully recovered from their laughing fits and none the worse for wear from fighting the squirrel, his two companions had no trouble following after him as he picked a random direction and started walking. Just to be safe, Ichigo checked to make sure that his fedora was firmly equipped and its status effect up and running. It was, which kind of made him wonder how Sona and her group had realized who he was...or had they? None of them had called him by name and he had classes with a few of them, so he should have been recognized, not that he'd given them time to get a word in after that farce of a battle was over. In the end, he didn't know one way or another what the situation with them was and he wasn't about to go back to find out. Best to let sleeping dogs lie and just wait for the answer to come to him.

Sona might be the patient type, but some of the others on the Student Council  _weren't_ , and that was the kind of forewarning he was banking on.

* * *

After about an hour of wandering around, they found the next squirrel, this one splashing around in a park fountain. As it didn't share the electrical immunity of the last squirrel, it only took one zap from Candice to knock it out. It looked like an over-sized, static-laden puffball when the light from the lightning faded, and Ichigo chuckled as he added it to the others in his inventory.

It was approaching dinnertime when they stumbled across the final two squirrels that, in the fine tradition of saving the best for last, also put up the toughest fight.

Honestly, he wasn't even sure how they managed to find them - they weren't standing in an open or easily accessible area like the previous squirrels, and there were no obvious trails of destruction leading to the demonic critters. One minute the three of them were wandering down a street lined with mysteriously empty stores (not one of them with a 'closed' sign in the window), and the next they were standing in front of a deserted warehouse with no idea how they'd gotten from point A to point B.

There wasn't even a real reason for them to be in the part of town that had warehouses, but lo and behold, there they were, standing in front of a building that could have been the _definition_ of 'derelict'.

Long empty and in the state of disrepair that said the place had been forgotten to the point that no one had even remembered to demolish, the warehouse was a squat, rectangular two-story building. The outside had the weathered, dusty gray-brown color of a structure that had been left untended and at the mercy of the elements for more than a few years, the walls cracked along the foundation in multiple spots and the number of broken windows outnumbering the whole ones by a wide margin. Shards of glass like so many fangs framed the openings to the darkness within the building, giving the impression of dozens of gaping mouths waiting to swallow anyone foolish enough to try to peer inside.

The sliding metal doors were rusted to the color of old blood, and with one look Ichigo knew that trying to force them open would create one hell of a racket. The smaller employee entrance off near one corner of the building wasn't in better shape, brown flecks of rust showing through the gaps in the boards that had been used to barricade it. By all appearances the place was thoroughly abandoned with no signs that anyone had passed by recently, but for some reason the hairs on the back of Ichigo's neck stood up just looking at it.

A quick glance at Candice showed her rubbing her arms to try and smooth away the goosebumps on her exposed skin, Akagyoushi shuddering in a way that rattled his scales from nose to tail. Obviously something didn't feel right to them either. The best way he could come up with to describe the sensation was the feeling you got when you first stepped into an empty school or other large building, the sound of your footsteps echoing in the halls and your suddenly loud breaths making you think 'am I really alone in here?'. It was creepy as fuck, and you knew it was bad when _Ichigo_ was the one saying that. He'd faced down ghosts, Hollows, and gods of death bent on killing him in addition to a war of the dead and somehow managed to take it more or less in stride - if he considered something creepy, it meant that any sane person would be running in terror.

He knew the smart thing to do would be to turn and walk away, but there was something about that building that made him think that that would be a mistake. Not only did it put him on edge, it also made him reluctant to leave it alone, and he balanced precariously on the fence between either walking away or going inside. The conflicted expressions on Candice and Akagyoushi's faces told him that both woman and lizard were fighting with the same dilemma.

"...We have to go inside, don't we?" Ichigo finally voiced, his query not directed to anyone in particular, and if there was a touch of resignation in his voice, he didn't think anyone would blame him.

Candice hesitantly nodded, her reply tinged with reluctance, "Yeah, I think we do. There's something about this place...we can't just leave it alone, can we?"

Akagyoushi growled softly, the sound a combination of agreement and hesitation with a touch of inquiry mixed in. Ichigo mentally translated it as 'do we  _have_ to?' with a touch of 'yeah, we probably do'. So, pretty much the same as what Candice said. Yeah, that sounded about right. The fact that he was getting better at understanding lizard-ese didn't even get a spark of attention, all of his focus on the ruined warehouse and the potential problems within.

Ichigo withheld a groan, instead sighing as he agreed, "With my luck, the place is probably haunted, or more likely there's something sealed inside that could potentially destroy the world and the minute we walk away some idiot will break in and somehow let it out. Best to go in there now and see what we're dealing with before it can bite us in the butt." Candice let out a somewhat hysterical giggle, likely thinking that he was trying to lighten the mood, but the truth was he was completely serious. That was just the way his life worked.

As it turned out, he was sort of right and sort of wrong, they discovered after climbing through one of the broken lower windows (no need to make more noise than they needed to by prying open one of the doors). There _was_ something in the building, but it wasn't world-ending. No, it - or should he say they - were just pains in the ass to deal with, Ichigo mentally deadpanned as he looked around the dark warehouse that was illuminated just enough by the setting sun outside that he could clearly see the two giant squirrels in the middle of the ground floor.

He had a second to take in the corroded walkways that made up the second floor and dust thick enough to act as a carpet before his attention was forcibly drawn to the squirrels when the larger one _screeched_. It was like the sound of nails on a chalkboard had an affair with a microphone screech and the noise the squirrel was making was their horrible lovechild. He flinched, hard, the urge to cover his ears and hunch over like Candice was doing almost overwhelming, but he resisted. It was a good thing he did, because that meant he was able to grab Candice's arm and pull her out of the way of a laser blast from the smaller squirrel's eyes.

Surprisingly, Akagyoushi seemed unaffected by the noise, charging forward to tackle the Boss Squirrel (a glance above it confirmed that this was indeed the head rodent himself) to the ground. A scuffle ensued, furious growls and chatters erupting from the brawling ball of demon squirrel vs. demon lizard, though Akagyoushi, all of his eyes opened wide, kept the large mammal too distracted to use its auditory attack again.

The two humans hit the ground awkwardly, Ichigo having only one hand free to soften the impact and both of Candice's occupied with covering her ears. The storm of dust the landing kicked up caused them both to cough and hack, but since neither of them got seared in half by the laser swipe nor lost any limbs, Ichigo still counted it as a win. Thumping one fist against his chest to dislodge the dust from his throat while Candice sneezed explosively beside him, he was profoundly relieved that the basilisk was doing such a good job keeping Boss Squirrel occupied. That left the smaller squirrel for them to handle and, lasers coming from its eyes or not, two-on-one were nice odds in his book. Certainly better than the odds his fights usually had, he reflected, meeting Candice's eyes momentarily and a wordless conversation flowed between them, begun and ended in seconds.

At an unseen signal, they split up, Ichigo going right and Candice taking the left, trapping the ocular-powered demon squirrel between and leaving it torn as to which one it should attack. They took full advantage of that brief pause, the bracelet he'd given Candice gleaming brightly as she threw ball after ball of crackling lightning into the rodent's flank, Ichigo using what he could of his pyrokinesis. He didn't want to risk trying to get a physical hit in while that much electricity was flying through the air, so low-leveled fire power it was! Maybe it was the sparks from the lightning helping him out, but the laser-beam squirrel caught fire rather easily, squealing and thrashing as its pelt went up like dry kindling.

([ _Pyrokinesis_ has gained a level!]

[ _Pyrokinesis_ has gained a level!]

[ _Pyrokinesis_ has gained a level!]

Yes, yes he got it, go away!)

Unfortunately, setting the Cyclops-squirrel (what? It reminded him of a certain X-Men character, sue him!) on fire was a double-edged sword. While the animal was taking damage, it also meant that there was a _giant flaming squirrel_ charging at them. "Fuck this!" Ichigo shouted, whirling around and running for his life, ducking and swerving between crates scattered around the bottom floor to confuse the enraged squirrel and seeing Candice doing the same from the corner of his eye.

In the background, the Akagyoushi and Boss Squirrel fight raged on.

* * *

Flaming squirrel crashing through rotted wooden objects behind him? Check. Lightning-wielding woman taking pot-shots at said squirrel while running parallel to him? Also check. Scorching hot breath on his back making him feel like Old Man Yama was behind him? Fucking check!

Swearing loudly, he abruptly dove to the side, the scent of burning rodent hair stinging his nose as the animal's jump just missed him. Instincts singing loudly, Ichigo didn't try to get up, instead rolling away from the flaming paws trying grab him and feeling the ozone in the air increase as a single bolt of lightning got the screeching ball of burning fury to back away long enough for him to flip back to his feet and get the lay of the land.

To the side Akagyoushi and the Boss Squirrel had disengaged, both panting heavily but the giant squirrel obviously worse off for the fight, patches of fur missing and lacerations from the basilisk's spikes and claws all along its sides and stomach, blood turning previously light gray fur red. The two animals eyed each other, and then the Boss Squirrel did something new, rhythmically stomping its feet to seemingly no purpose...until he, Candice and Akagyoushi felt the faint tremors beneath their feet. The vibrations grew stronger at an unnatural speed, the burning squirrel pausing in its rampage as it felt the tremors. As luck would have it, the moment the tremors graduated to full-on rumbles was the moment the flames covering the Cyclops-squirrel vanished, revealing a badly scorched but otherwise unharmed demon critter.

As the ground continued to shake, Ichigo and Candice braced themselves against one of the few intact crates left after Cyclops's rampage, maintaining their balance through sheer willpower and watching as Akagyoushi firmed his stance and weathered the quaking attack. Ichigo had to say this about the lizard; he was damned tough, especially since the second the shaking began to subside, he was right back on the attack. Like hell Ichigo was going to be shown up by an overgrown reptile, and with a wild grin, he did something Cyclops didn't expect -  _he_ went on the attack, landing a devastating haymaker right to the rodent's throat.

Candice gleefully followed his lead, a lightning-wreathed kick slamming into the squirrel's stomach and causing its wheezing to crank up a notch. A questioning look at the green-haired woman that got a vicious grin in reply, and they lifted their legs in perfect sync, bringing them down in brutal axe-kicks that connected squarely with Cyclops' skull. After that, all the poor squirrel knew was darkness.

Shoving the unconscious pain in the neck into his inventory and then closing the window, Ichigo turned around just in time to see Akagyoushi finish off the Boss Squirrel with, guess what, a body-slam. He was starting to suspect that that might be turning into Akagyoushi's finishing move...oh well. He shrugged, because whatever worked, worked, and he wasn't going to complain about a win. Finally, all the squirrels were defeated and the hard part of the quest was  _done_ , praise Amaterasu!

* * *

It didn't take more than a second to open his menu and shove the Boss Squirrel in with the rest of the defeated rodents, and he groaned in relief as he closed the screen and stretched, hearing his joints pop and feeling like he wanted to sleep for a week. Sadly, he still had things to do before he could collapse into his futon (which, he remembered, he still had to wash at some point). Candice was standing next to him, a bit disheveled but otherwise beaming, and he didn't bother fighting a smile when he saw the adoring look in her eyes as she examined the bracelet that was still faintly glowing from the power it had been channeling.

"Glad that thing came in handy," he said, smiling a bit wider when Candice started nodding like one of those bobble-head dolls.

"Definitely! This bracelet is awesome!" The woman fairly gushed in happiness, turning her beaming expression on Ichigo and then, before he could react, lunging forward and hugging him. "Thank you so much for giving it to me!" The air was knocked from his lungs, and his face probably resembled a tomato as his arms automatically moved to both return the embrace and hold Candice steady, a very prominent part of Candice's anatomy pressed against him. He stared fixedly over her shoulder, trying to ignore the softness pushing against his chest, repeatedly telling himself that he would not look as Candice slid down his body to set her feet back on the floor.

For the sake of his face turning back to its usual color, he immediately turned his focus towards Akagyoushi, who was for some reason sniffing around the remains of some of the crates. He nudged Candice's arm, silently pointing out what had caught his attention, and they both drifted over. When they saw what had the lizard so interested, both of them froze because  _what the hell_.

Inside the mess of splinters, something glittered. Something that, on closer examination, looked very, very similar to a diamond.

Allow him to reiterate: what. The. Hell?!

Silently, he helped the searching reptile gather up all the diamonds and other gems that the lizard found within the destroyed crates, handing half of them to Candice because not all of them would fit in his pocket. By an unspoken, unanimous decision, they both decided to Not Think About It.

Akagyoushi looked beyond pleased with himself, and honestly, he deserved to be proud, Ichigo admitted. He gave the lizard a firm pat on the neck as they exited the warehouse. That was a good day's work, he thought, and after a moment voiced said thought. Akagyoushi rumbled happily and Candice giggling, an extra spring in her step as she walked on his other side.

"Your  _Akagyoushi_ bond has gained a level!"

"Your _Candice Catnipp_ bond has gained a level!"

...Yeah, he'd kind of been expecting that. He idly wondered how far up bonds could go and if he even wanted to chance finding out. Probably not, but since he couldn't turn the damn thing off, looks like he had go along for the ride. Ah, forget it. He was getting hungry.

"...So, you guys want to head back to the apartment? I feel like ordering pizza."

Judging from the cheers, the answer to that was a resounding  _yes_. He didn't stop smiling the whole way back.


End file.
